Washington (USA), 9 August. (LaPresse/AP) – Four astronauts, Americans Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese Takuya Onishi and Russian Kirill Peskov, have returned to Earth after a five-month stay on the International Space Station. Their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California, one day after leaving the orbiting laboratory. The four had left last March to replace test pilots stranded aboard Boeing's Starliner. Starliner malfunctions forced Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to remain on the station for more than nine months instead of a week. It was the third Pacific splashdown for a SpaceX capsule with a crew on board, but the first for NASA in 50 years.
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