SpaceX safely returned four astronauts from the International Space Station early Sunday with a capsule splashdown in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

It was the first nighttime slashdown since Apollo 8 in 1968.

The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, just before 3 a.m., ending the second crewed flight for SpaceX.

It was an express trip home, lasting just 6 1/2 hours.

The astronauts, three American and one Japanese, flew back in the same capsule — named Resilience — in which they launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in November.

“We welcome you back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX,” SpaceX’s Mission Control radioed moments after splashdown. “For those of you enrolled in our frequent flyer program, you’ve earned 68 million miles on this voyage.”

“We’ll take those miles,” said spacecraft commander Mike Hopkins. “Are they transferrable?” SpaceX replied that the astronauts would have to check with the company’s marketing department.

Within a half-hour of splashdown, the charred capsule — resembling a giant toasted marshmallow — had been hoisted onto the recovery ship.

Saturday night’s undocking left seven people at the space station, four of whom arrived a week ago via SpaceX.

SpaceX had practiced for a nighttime return, just in case, and even recovered its most recent station cargo capsule from the Gulf of Mexico in darkness. Infrared cameras tracked the capsule as it re-entered the atmosphere; it resembled a bright star streaking through the night sky.

Return flight plans changed

Originally, NASA and SpaceX were planning to bring back the four astronauts on Wednesday, April 28. But after reviewing the weather forecast for the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida and determining that winds would exceed safety limits, they pushed back the date to Saturday, May 1.

Then, NASA announced on Thursday that the predicted wind speeds are above the safety criteria for the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida. 

The SpaceX capsule Resilience will bring NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, plus JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, back home to Earth.

Leading up to the Crew-1's return, the ISS was packed with 11 people: the four members of Crew-2, who arrived just days ago from Kennedy Space Center; the four members of Crew-1; plus an American and two Russians who launched from Kazakhstan. The station hasn't hosted that many people since the space shuttle days.

The two Crew Dragon capsules were parked nearly side-by-side at the ISS.

The members of Crew-1 headed to the ISS aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in November 2020. On board the ISS, they have conducted hundreds of science experiments, hours of daily exercise, and had constant contact with mission control on Earth. Each day has been detailed to the minute by mission planners.