Astronauts aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft are set to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico at 5:57 p.m. ET on March 18 after a 17-hour return from the ISS. The Coast Guard has designated five splashdown zones, and recovery vessel Megan is en route. Ideal weather with light winds and calm seas under 2 feet will ensure smooth recovery operations.

A private crew is back on Earth after a nine-day trip to the International Space Station.

Launch of the SpaceX Crew-6 mission is targeted for 2:07 a.m. Sunday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX has returned four astronauts from the International Space Station with a midnight splashdown off the Florida coast.

A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts has pulled up at the International Space Station, their new home until spring.

SpaceX has delivered four astronauts back to Earth, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.

The European and Russian space agencies skipped the 2020 Mars launch window, their life-sniffing Mars rover grounded until 2022 because of technical issues and COVID-19 restrictions. Three weeks later, SpaceX launched its biggest cargo shipment yet to the space station for NASA. If the repairs work and the capsule finally reaches the space station, the first Starliner astronauts could be flying by summer. The actor was in talks with NASA this year about filming a movie at the space station. “Whatever else can be said about the four years of the Trump administration, they have been positive for the U.S. civilian space program,” noted John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

In this frame grab from NASA TV, the SpaceX Dragon is seen after docking at the International Space Station, late Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. (NASA TV via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX’s newly launched capsule with four astronauts arrived Monday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring. The Dragon capsule pulled up and docked late Monday night, following a 27-hour, completely automated flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. “Oh, what a good voice to hear,” space station astronaut Kate Rubins called out when the Dragon's commander, Mike Hopkins, first made radio contact. And so it will go, with SpaceX — and eventually Boeing — transporting astronauts to and from the station for NASA.

For NASA, it marks the long-awaited start of regular crew rotations at the International Space Station, with private companies providing the lifts. It will be a speedy trip to the space station, a six-orbit express lasting under nine hours. “Every time there’s a Dragon launch, there will be two Dragons in space,” said Reed, director of crew mission management. NASA turned to private companies for space station deliveries — cargo, then crew — following the shuttle fleet's retirement in 2011. They will join two Russians and one American who arrived at the space station last month from Kazakhstan.

Once on board the space station, Hurley said the capsule, newly named Endeavour after the retired shuttle, handled extremely well. He was the pilot on the last U.S. spaceship to visit the space station the last shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in July 2011. Until Saturday, SpaceX had launched only space station supplies or satellites. Tremor was going to join Earthy, a plush globe delivered to the space station on last years test flight of a crew-less crew Dragon. Even so, getting the two astronauts safely to orbit and then the space station had everyone breathing huge sighs of relief.

The two astronauts will fly on a SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. Once on board the space station, Hurley said the capsule, newly named Endeavour after the retired shuttle, handled extremely well. He was the pilot on the last U.S. spaceship to visit the space station the last shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in July 2011. Until Saturday, SpaceX had launched only space station supplies or satellites. Even so, getting the two astronauts safely to orbit and then the space station had everyone breathing huge sighs of relief.

A SpaceX Dragon capsule vaulted into orbit Thursday carrying an eclectic batch of supplies destined for the International Space Station. It's a routine mission for Elon Musk's space exploration company: SpaceX has for years conducted uncrewed resupply missions to the space station through contracts with NASA. It'll depart the space station in about four weeks, carrying home about 3,300 pounds of trash and research materials. An Adidas soccer ball is also on board the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Among the other research payloads headed for the space station is the first-ever bioprinter, which could use a person's cells to "print" them new organs.

A SpaceX Dragon capsule vaulted into orbit Thursday carrying an eclectic batch of supplies destined for the International Space Station.