• Four astronauts returned to Earth after five months on the ISS.
• The SpaceX capsule made history with its Pacific splashdown, the first for NASA in 50 years.
• The mission involved relieving stranded Boeing Starliner test pilots.

Four astronauts successfully returned to Earth on Saturday, concluding a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast a day after undocking from the orbiting lab. The crew included NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi, and Russia's Kirill Peskov, who were sent to relieve test pilots of Boeing's Starliner after their prolonged stay due to malfunctions, according to sfgate and huffpost.

This splashdown marks a significant historical event, being the first time in half a century that a NASA crew has returned to the Pacific. The astronauts launched in March as replacements for the two NASA astronauts initially assigned to the Starliner’s botched demo. "Welcome home," SpaceX Mission Control radioed after the successful landing at 8:33 a.m. EDT, according to latimes and aljazeera.

Prior to their departure, McClain expressed the importance of their mission, remarking on "some tumultuous times on Earth," emphasizing cooperation in exploration. With a collective desire for hot showers and juicy burgers, the crew looked forward to their homecoming after their rigorous mission, which included conducting over 200 experiments in microgravity, according to newsweek and sfgate.

This mission is particularly notable because SpaceX made changes earlier this year, transitioning splashdowns from Florida to California to mitigate risks associated with falling debris in densely populated areas. The last time NASA astronauts returned to the Pacific from space was during the landmark Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, as noted by multiple sources, including huffpost and latimes.