On October 8, 2026, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom completed its mission by splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, marking the end of the Crew‑12 flight to the International Space Station.
The capsule, designated Freedom, is part of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon fleet developed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. After undocking from the ISS, it performed a deorbit burn, entered the atmosphere, deployed drogue and main parachutes, and touched down on the water under the supervision of recovery teams.
Aboard were NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The crew represented a partnership between the United States, Europe and Russia, reflecting the multinational nature of ISS operations.
The successful splashdown demonstrates the reliability of the Crew Dragon system for regular crew rotations and highlights the continued cooperation among international space agencies in sustaining a continuous human presence in low‑Earth orbit.