EU space ambitions as French astronaut returns to Earth

An astronaut crew that carried out an eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station splashed down as planned on Thursday off the coast of California. After a more than 27-hour return journey, the Dragon capsule carrying Crew-12 landed safely in the Pacific Ocean.

The spacecraft was then hoisted onto a specialized ship, and the four occupants Meir, American Jack Hathaway, French astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev were helped out one by one. During the mission, Adenot became the first French female astronaut to venture outside the space station for a spacewalk. In all, she undertook three spacewalks on August 18 and 25, and September 1.