Space, successful re-entry for SpaceX's Dragon: 148 days in orbit

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft has successfully completed its mission, docking off San Diego, California, with four crew members on board. The re-entry marks the end of a 148-day stay in space as part of crew rotation operations to the International Space Station (ISS).

On board the capsule were Nasa astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese space agency representative Jaxa Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The mission, part of Nasa's Commercial Crew programme, confirms SpaceX's increasingly central role in low-orbit human transport, a key segment in the new space economy.

The ditching followed an automated re-entry phase, with constant checks from Earth and favourable weather conditions in the recovery area. SpaceX and Nasa engineers immediately started crew extraction and capsule safety operations.

The flight is part of the regular missions that ensure the continued presence of astronauts on the ISS, supporting scientific research, maintenance and technological experimentation. The agreement between Nasa and SpaceX, which has replaced dependence on Russian Soyuz launches, has allowed a reduction in orbit access costs and greater operational flexibility in recent years.