by NASA/Keegan Barber Four astronauts from the SpaceX crew returned home Saturday night
Four astronauts returned to Earth Saturday night after a five-month stay on the International Space Station.
The American-Russian-Japanese crew’s capsule landed in the Gulf of Mexico after checking out of the station early Saturday morning. Her SpaceX flight home took less than 19 hours.
After the Dragon capsule landed just off the Florida coast near Tampa, NASA’s Nicole Mann — the first Native American woman to fly into space — called the return “a bloody ride,” according to the Associated Press.
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Keegan Barber/NASA via AP The capsule of SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance spacecraft before landing
“We’re glad to be home,” Mann said.
While their replacement arrived more than a week ago, the astronauts were kept on the space station for a few extra days because of splash zones exposed to high winds and waves, according to the Associated Press.
Also taking part in the journey home were Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina and NASA’s Josh Cassada. Mann, who is a member of the Northern California Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, said she looks forward to the feel of the wind and the smell of weed; While Wakata looked forward to sushi, Kikina expected hot tea “from [a] real cup” and Cassada looked forward to gifting his family a rescue dog.
Three Americans, three Russians and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates stayed on the space station. As the AP reports, during their time in space, the astronauts dealt with leaking Russian capsules and the delivery of a replacement vehicle for other crew members.
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NASA via AP The four astronauts before their return home on Saturday
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In other breaking space news, *NSYNC alum Lance Bass – himself a certified cosmonaut – is the narrator of the new iHeart podcast. The Last Soviet.
The eight-part series – produced by iHeartPodcasts with Kaleidoscope and Samizdat Audio – tells the story of Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and his 313 days in space amid the collapse of the USSR. At the time, “All hell broke loose in Russia,” Bass told PEOPLE, but the astronaut was committed to his work and his country as well.
“Just being stuck in space is a scary thing,” Bass told PEOPLE last month. “You tell someone, ‘This guy was stuck in space for 313 days.’ How can anyone survive in space – and that’s not even that [International Space Station]. We’re talking about a smaller station where space madness really hits you. The fact that he survived that and is still working in the space program today… He was a hero.”
The “Bye Bye Bye” singer was jointly certified by both the Russian Space Program and NASA for the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft mission in 2002.
“When he was just getting into the program at a young age, we heard things — all the things that he needed and had to go through in Star City, we went through the exact same training,” Bass said. “It’s just fascinating to hear how your life goes through this amazing cosmonaut hero.”
