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Space station crew returns home after eight-month mission

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Cite

Harwood, W. (2026, October 7). Space station crew returns home after eight-month mission. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/space-station-undock-replacements-six-month-tour-of-duty/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

CBS News · collected 2026-10-07 · by William Harwood

Quick Summary

Four astronauts from the International Space Station returned to Earth on Thursday after an eight-month mission. The crew—comprising NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA’s Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos’ Andrey Fedyaev—undocked early Wednesday in their Crew Dragon capsule "Freedom." After a brief farewell ceremony led by outgoing commander Jessica Meir, the astronauts will splash down off the coast of Southern California at 11:34 a.m. ET on Thursday following a re-entry maneuver. Their departure marks the transition to a new crew including NASA's Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney among others, who have been aboard since October.
Written by AI on 2026-10-07, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On February 14, Jessica Meir and her fellow crew members from NASA's Crew-12 mission—including pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—undocked from the International Space Station after an eight-month stay. They departed on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule named "Freedom," which initiated its descent back to Earth with a deorbit burn at 10:46 AM EST on February 15. The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California around 11:34 AM EST, marking the end of their 237-day mission aboard the ISS. During this period, they conducted numerous scientific experiments and maintenance tasks to prepare for future space missions. Medical personnel were on standby at the splashdown site to assist the crew as they acclimated back to Earth's gravity after months in zero-gravity conditions.

Written for “Space Station Crew Return Home” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Space Station Crew Return Home
Science · 4 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 1 of 34 claims Outlet record 68/100
NPR
Hedges 0 of 17 claims Outlet record 60/100
New York Post
Hedges 4 of 20 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Globe and Mail
Hedges 1 of 38 claims Outlet record 52/100
“Article A reports on Josh Kutryk's arrival at the ISS, while Article B describes a different crew's departure from the ISS.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
14
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
CBS News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
4
Science
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-07 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

CBS News · 4356 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

William Harwood
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Two astronauts stepped outside the International Space Station Thursday for the first of two spacewalks, one week apart, to install a final pair of roll-out solar blankets that will complete a complex, years-long upgrade of the lab's aging power system.
🔮 "We have had the most incredible of expeditions ... and we will never forget it, and never forget all of your hard work."
🔮 If the unpiloted test flight goes well, NASA and Boeing hope to launch a piloted Starliner flight in the mid-2028 time frame, officials said Monday, incorporating redesigned propulsion system valves, more robust subsystems and other modifications expected to prevent the sort of failures that occurred in 2024.
Also by William Harwood
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Crew 12 Crew Dragon Cuba European Space Agency Freedom

Subjects

Meir PERSON · 7× Adenot PERSON · 2× Dubrov PERSON · 2× Hathaway PERSON · 2× Andrey Fedyaev PERSON · 1× Cuba GPE · 1× European Space Agency ORG · 1× Jack Hathaway PERSON · 1× Jessica Meir PERSON · 1× Sophie Adenot PERSON · 1×

Narrative

After enjoying a final day in weightlessness, Meir and Hathaway will monitor a nine-minute and 20-second firing of the Crew Dragon's forward Draco thrusters starting at 10:46 a.m. ET on Thursday, setting up a fiery plunge back to Earth and splashdown off the coast of California at 11:34 a.m. ET. Left behind aboard the space station that replaced them — commander Jessica Watkins, pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov — who were launched to the station on Oct. 1.Also on board are Soyuz MS-29 commander Pyotr Dubrov, cosmonaut Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 14. They plan to remain aboard the station for eight months while Crew 13 is planning a six-month tour of duty.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-07
🔮 "We have had the most incredible of expeditions ... and we will never forget it, and never forget all of your hard work."
2026-10-07 · CBS News
Space station crew returns home after eight-month mission · assertive framing

Claims (14 extracted, 0 hedged)

The four people departing the International Space Station strapped into their Crew Dragon capsule and undocked early Wednesday, setting up re-entry and splashdown Thursday off the coast of Southern California to a 237-day stay in orbit. asserted
people → depart → orbit
, flanked on their left by European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and on the right by cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, the Crew Dragon "Freedom" backed away from the space-facing port on the forward Harmony module at 8:05 a.m. Eastern Time. asserted
Freedom → flank → a.m.
Sailing 260 miles above Cuba and the Bahamas, the capsule executed an automated loop over the top of the lab complex and slowly dropped away behind, exiting the safety zones around the station. "We just wanted to give an enormous thank you to all of the team, our friends and colleagues on board the International Space Station, everybody in Houston, everybody at SpaceX, all around the world, with all of our international partners," Meir radioed as the Crew Dragon departed. asserted
Dragon → sail → partners
"We have had the most incredible of expeditions ... and we will never forget it, and never forget all of your hard work." asserted
we → have → work
After enjoying a final day in weightlessness, Meir and Hathaway will monitor a nine-minute and 20-second firing of the Crew Dragon's forward Draco thrusters starting at 10:46 a.m. ET on Thursday, setting up a fiery plunge back to Earth and splashdown off the coast of California at 11:34 a.m. ET. Left behind aboard the space station that replaced them — commander Jessica Watkins, pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov — who were launched to the station on Oct. 1.Also on board are Soyuz MS-29 commander Pyotr Dubrov, cosmonaut Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 14. They plan to remain aboard the station for eight months while Crew 13 is planning a six-month tour of duty. asserted
Crew → enjoy → duty
In a brief ceremony Sunday, Meir turned command of the station over to Dubrov, saying Crew 12's departure would mark a "bittersweet" moment. asserted
departure → turn → moment
"We will be leaving our friends," she said. asserted
she → leave → friends
"But we know that we are going home to our friends, to our families, to all of our team members on the ground. asserted
we → know → ground
So it's a lot of mixed, swirling emotions for all of us when one leaves a home like this up on the space station." asserted
one → swirl → station
She presented a symbolic "key to the space station" to Dubrov, who said "it's a great honor and a great responsibility to be the commander of such a magnificent place like International Space Station." asserted
it → present → Station
"It has a special meaning for me today, because 69 years ago on this day (Oct. 4) the first Sputnik was launched. asserted
Sputnik → have → day
Today is the dawn of the space era for humanity, and International Space Station is the greatest symbol of what we can do if we work together." asserted
we → work → what
The combined crews then gathered in a group hug, or "huggle," as Meir described it, forming a circle with arms around each other's shoulders. With splashdown Thursday, Meir, Hathaway, Adenot and Fedyaev will wrap up a 237-day and five-hour mission, flying around the planet 3,792 times and logging nearly 101 million miles from start to finish. Meir, wrapping up her second flight to the space station, will have logged a total of 442 days in space, completing four spacewalks during the Crew 12 mission and three during an earlier stay. asserted
Meir → combine → stay
Adenot carried out three back-to-back spacewalks of her own, including one with Meir and two with Menon. asserted
Adenot → carry → Menon
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