NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 returns to Earth

LOS ANGELES, Sep 4: The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said its SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splashed down safely off the coast of the southeastern U.S. state of Florida early Monday.

The four-member international crew, consisting of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, and Roscosmos (Russia's state space corporation) cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, returned to Earth in a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida at 12:17 a.m. Monday Eastern Time (1617 Monday GMT).

The spacecraft was undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:05 a.m. Sunday Eastern Time (1105 Sunday GMT).

The mission was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 2 and docked to the ISS the next day.   

The crew has been living and working aboard the ISS for six months.

During the mission, the crew contributed to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations, including student robotic challenges, plant genetics, and human health in microgravity to prepare for exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to benefit life on Earth, according to NASA.

The mission codenamed Crew-6, is the sixth crew rotation flight of a Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

(RSS/Xinhua)