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The capsule, dubbed Endeavor, was dropped into the sea off the coast of Florida as planned just after 10:30 p.m. EST on Monday (0330 GMT Tuesday), after re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere brought live by a NASA webcast.
Real-time infrared thermal video imaging captured a glimpse of the capsule streaking like a meteor in the night sky over the Bay minutes before it crashed.
“Endeavor, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome to the home of planet Earth,” a voice from SpaceX’s flight control center in suburban Los Angeles can be heard telling the crew as a safe landing is confirmed.
“It’s good to be back,” one of the astronauts answered over the radio.
The 4 astronauts returned to Earth after they had reached 199 full days in orbit. This is the longest time ever for an entire US-launched crew, according to Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate head of space operations.
Their residence time in orbit surpassed the previous record of 168 days set by the predecessor mission SpaceX-NASA earlier this year.
Within an hour of landing, the capsule was lifted from the sea onto the recovery ship’s deck, and the four astronauts were seen exiting Endeavor’s hold one by one.
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