Back to Earth. Washington state NASA astronaut splashes down off Florida coast

NASA astronaut Kayla Barron returned to Earth after 2,832 trips around the planet onboard the International Space Station.

She smiled as she was helped out of the capsule after it was lifted onto a recovery boat and then was wheeled away for a medical check after 175 days in microgravity.

Plans were to fly her to Houston to reunited her with family, which includes her parents, Scott and Laurie Sax of Richland, and her husband.

“Living and working aboard the International Space Station has been a transformative experience and an extraordinary privilege,” Barron posted on her NASA Facebook page as she prepared to return to Earth.

She said she was torn between regret for the end of her first adventure in space and eagerness to see the loved ones she has missed for six months, she said.

And she “wouldn’t mind sipping coffee out of a cup instead of through a straw,” she said.

More seriously, she said she’d been thinking about transitions as she reflected on her experience at the space station and returning to Earth.

“Even though they can be challenging, our gorgeous planet has shown me that transitions also hold their own unique beauty, so here’s to honoring an incredible experience by embracing change, and raising our gaze to the horizon and the next adventure,” she said.

Barron is part of the Artemis program, which is working to establish a base camp for extended stays by astronauts on the Moon. Among the program’s goals is landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.

Barron spent most of the past six months working on research on the space station, including research that will prepare for the first long-term presence on the Moon.

In one project that could benefit future space missions, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts grew plants without soil or other growth material.

They captured imagery of their retinas as part of an investigation that could detect eye changes of astronauts in space automatically in the future.

Other research was to benefit people on Earth, including taking hundreds of photos of Earth as part of the Crew Earth Observation investigation, one of the longest-running investigations aboard the space station, which helps track natural disasters and changes to our home planet.

NASA Crew-3 splashdown

The NASA crew that includes Barron turned over command of the space station to SpaceX Crew-4 on Wednesday, about a week after the new crew’s arrival.

Barron’s crew undocked the Dragon Endurance — the spacecraft they arrived in — from the space station at 1:05 a.m. EDT May 5, to begin the trip home.

The splashdown went smoothly, with two drogue parachutes deploying as the Endurance was about 18,000 feet over Earth to slow its speed from 17,500 mph to 350 mph. Then the four main parachutes opened to slow it to 15 mph for the splashdown.

It was a “very clean entry,” said Steve Stich, program manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

“The crew looked great. They are feeling well,” he said.

In the last six months Barron traveled over 75 million miles, took many pictures of Earth, including locating the Tri-Cities from space, and went on two spacewalks outside the space station.

Barron said she was “grateful for the dedicated flight control teams around the world who are the true experts, without whom we would be lost and grateful for my crewmates, who have taught me so much about how to be the best version of myself.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Back to Earth. Washington state NASA astronaut splashes down off Florida coast."