The first Native woman in space and Crew-5 returned to Earth Saturday evening after five months on the International Space Station.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down off the coast of Florida near Tampa after nearly a 19-hour journey.
“That was one heck of a ride,” Commander Nicole Mann, Wailacki of Round Valley Tribes, radioed after splashing into the Gulf of Mexico at 16mph. “Looking forward to next time.”
She logged 157 days in space, her first spaceflight.
Mann and the crew — NASA astronaut John Cassada, astronaut Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina — made the space station their home since October where they conducted scientific research for future space exploration and life on Earth.
Besides dodging space junk, the astronauts had to deal with a pair of leaking Russian capsules docked to the orbiting outpost and the urgent delivery of a replacement craft for the station’s other crew members.
After splashing down in the ocean, Crew-5 was taken out of the capsule on a stretcher, one of the many recovery activities they will have to undergo, due to the change in gravity.
Crew-5 was flown to Houston to reunite with their families after six months.
Earlier in the week, high wind and waves in the splashdown zones kept them at the station a few extra days. Their replacements, Crew-6, arrived more than a week ago.
Remaining behind at the space station are three Americans, three Russians and one from the United Arab Emirates.
Wakata, Japan’s spaceflight champion, now has logged more than 500 days in space over five missions dating back to NASA’s shuttle era.
This story originally appeared in Indian Country today and is republished here with permission.
