NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 members gather for a portrait in the pressure suits they will wear when they depart the International Space Station inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. From left, Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist Andrey Fedyaev, NASA
The four members of the Crew-12 mission will return to Earth on Thursday after nearly eight months in space.
The crew is traveling in a SpaceX Dragon capsule named Freedom, which is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast at 11:34 a.m. ET.
How to watch the splashdown
NASA will provide full live coverage of Crew12's return starting at 10:20 a.m.
A livestream of the splashdown and the crew recovery will be available on the NASA website and YouTube channel.
Post-splashdown briefing
After Crew-12's return, NASA and SpaceX will hold a press briefing at 1:15 p.m. ET.
The briefing will include:
- Bill Spetch, deputy manager of Commercial, NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program
- Dr. Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist, NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program
- Lee Echerd, senior mission manager, Customer Operations and Integration, SpaceX
- Andreas Mogensen, leader, Human Exploration Group, ESA
Crew-12 leaves International Space Station
The backstory:
Crew-12 consists of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscomos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
They undocked from the International Space Station on Wednesday morning after spending months aboard the station, performing maintenance and conducting experiments.
Who replaced Crew-12?
What's next:
Crew-12 was relieved by the four-person Crew-13, which arrived at the ISS on Oct. 1.
(April 30, 2026) --- The SpaceX Crew-13 members pose for a portrait in their pressure suits during a preflight training session at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. From left are, Roscosmos Sergey Teteryatnikov, NASA astronauts Jes
The crew—which includes NASA's Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutrkyk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov—will spend about six months on the ISS.
The Source: This story was written based on information released by NASA and SpaceX and from previous FOX 35 reporting.