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The SpaceX Crew-10 mission successfully concluded with the splashdown of the Dragon capsule Endurance off the coast of California at 1533 UTC on Aug. 9. The crew, consisting of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, were safely recovered by SpaceX's recovery ship MV Shannon after a 17.5-hour journey from the International Space Station(ISS).
The splashdown took place approximately 150 miles off the coast of Southern California, near Oceanside and San Diego, in the Pacific Ocean, marking the first time a NASA Commercial Crew Program mission has landed in the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast, following the earlier private Fram2 mission's splashdown in April 2025.
The shift in landing location was primarily due to SpaceX's decision to jettison the Dragon capsule's trunk after the deorbit burn, ensuring any debris would fall harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean, away from populated areas.
"From the entire Crew-10, thank you," radioed Dragon commander McClain, soon after splashdown Saturday. "It was truly the ride of a lifetime."
The hatches between the Crew-10 Dragon capsule Endurance and the ISS closed at 2020 UTC on Aug. 8, and undocking occurred at 22:15 UTC.
The recovery operation was conducted under "fairly decent conditions," and the crew was given a medical evaluation after exiting the capsule, with the entire process taking about an hour from splashdown.
After recovery, the crew was flown to Houston, Texas, for further medical evaluations and debriefings
The Crew-10 mission, which launched on March 14, 2025, from Kennedy Space Center, lasted 147 days, 16 hours, and 29 minutes, during which the crew conducted numerous scientific experiments and research.
For Ayers and Peskov, Crew-10 was their first spaceflight, while McClain and Onishi were on their second. Onishi also served as commander of ISS Expedition 73 until August 5, when he transferred leadership to cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, concluding a significant chapter in the station’s ongoing operations.