CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) — Four astronauts returned to Earth early Monday after a six-month stay at the International Space Station.

Their SpaceX capsule splashed down into the Atlantic off the Florida coast.

This view of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 returning to Earth as captured over Hawthorne, FL, shortly after midnight on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Courtesy: Denise Vickers/352today
In this image from video made available by NASA, a SpaceX capsule, slowed by parachutes, splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, as it returns to Earth. Courtesy: NASA via AP
In this image from video made available by NASA, a SpaceX capsule, slowed by parachutes, splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean with NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, NASA astronaut Warren (Woody) Hoburg and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev after a six-month stay at the International Space Station. Courtesy: NASA via AP
In this photo provided by NASA, support teams work around a SpaceX capsule shortly after it splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, FL, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Courtesy: Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP
In this May 2023 photo provided by NASA, clockwise from bottom, NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, NASA astronaut Warren (Woody) Hoburg and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev pose for a portrait in their pressure suits aboard the International Space Station. Courtesy: NASA via AP

Returning were NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev and the United Arab Emirates’ Sultan al-Neyadi, the first person from the Arab world to spend an extended time in orbit. The Crew-6 mission is the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station, and the seventh flight of Dragon with people as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Before departing the space station, they said they were craving hot showers, steaming cups of coffee and the ocean air since arriving in March.

Their homecoming was delayed a day because of poor weather at the splashdown locations, but in the end, provided a spectacular middle-of-the-night show as the capsule streaked through the sky over Cape Canaveral toward a splashdown near Jacksonville.

“It’s the astronauts returning,” said Denise Vickers, News Editor for 352today, on a video recording of the re-entry she posted on YouTube. “How cool is that? Look at that,” Vickers said to her husband, Mark, and their friend, Jon Kitchen. The trio witnessed the cosmic event from Hawthorne, Florida, in Alachua County southeast of Gainesville. A sonic boom followed moments after the streak was out of sight.

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The astronauts said it was incredible to be back. “You’ve got a roomful of happy people here,” SpaceX Mission Control radioed.
SpaceX launched their replacements over a week ago.

Another crew switch will occur later this month with the long-awaited homecoming of two Russians and one American who have been up there an entire year. Their stay was doubled after their Soyuz capsule leaked all of its coolant and a new craft had to be launched.

Between crew swaps, the space station is home to seven astronauts.