Space travel Four ISS space travelers landed back on Earth

Delayed by the weather, four space travelers have returned to Earth after around seven months on board the International Space Station (ISS). The capsule of the so-called "Crew 8" landed in the sea off the US state of Florida after more than 30 hours of flight.

This was shown in live images from the US space agency NASA. Crew 8 includes the Nasa astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps as well as the Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. They flew in a Crew Dragon capsule from tech billionaire Elon Musk's private space company SpaceX.

According to NASA, the space travelers have important research results in their luggage. Crew 8 conducted around 200 experiments on board the ISS, including research on stem cells and plants. They also tested whether pressure cuffs on the legs could help prevent health problems in astronauts.

The astronauts were supposed to have flown back to Earth around two weeks ago, but then storm "Milton" disrupted their plans, hitting Florida as a Category 3 hurricane and battering the designated water landing zones off the coast with strong winds and rough seas. Even after the hurricane had passed, the weather conditions remained unfavorable, and Nasa therefore postponed the return date several times.

The space travelers had been on board the ISS since the beginning of March, with various medical experiments planned, among other things. It was the first space flight for Epps, Grebenkin and Dominick, while Barratt was visiting the space station for the third time.

SDA