The SpaceX Crew-7 mission came to a successful end as the four astronauts safely returned to Earth on Tuesday, March 12. The astronauts’ homecoming was broadcast live as their Dragon capsule, Endurance, splashed down at 5:50 a.m. EDT off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The recovery crew quickly arrived at the capsule, with thermal cameras capturing the operation.

After the successful recovery, the Dragon capsule was lifted from the Gulf of Mexico onto a recovery ship at 6:13 a.m. EDT using a hydraulic lift. The Crew-7 astronauts exited the capsule at 6:36 a.m. EDT, with Andy Mogensen being assisted out first. Following their 199-day stay in low-Earth orbit, the crew will undergo medical checks to ensure their health.

The mission, which launched on August 26, 2023, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, marked the first spaceflight for NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, and the second for Andreas Mogensen and Satoshi Furukawa. The quartet had a brief overlap with their successors before beginning their journey home.