SpaceX capsule returns crew of four from space station mission; ends five-month stint

(From left to right): Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata smile inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft onboard a recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Fla., following a five-month mission on the International Space Station, Saturday, March 11, 2023. - AP

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters): Four crew members aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule splashed down off Florida's Gulf coast on Saturday, returning safely from a five-month science mission on the International Space Station.

The SpaceX capsule, dubbed Endurance, parachuted into waters off the coast of Tampa just after 9pm EST (0200 GMT) carrying two NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut after a roughly nine-hour flight from the orbital research lab, a NASA-SpaceX webcast showed.