NASA · Thursday, October 8, 2026
Crew-12 leaves the space station; splashdown off California is still a plan for late this morning
The File desk · Oct 8, 2026, 10:50 AM UTC
Status
Confirmed that the capsule undocked. NASA's station blog, posted Oct. 7, 2026, at 8:48 a.m. Eastern, says undocking was at 8:05 a.m. A splashdown about 11:34 a.m. Eastern today is still only NASA's plan.
- Confirmed
Crew-12 undocked from the International Space Station at 8:05 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
- Confirmed
NASA is aiming for a splashdown off California at about 11:34 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, with coverage from 10:20 a.m. That splashdown is a plan.
Four Crew-12 astronauts undocked from the International Space Station at 8:05 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday aboard their SpaceX Dragon capsule, NASA said. They are NASA's Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. NASA is aiming for a splashdown off the California coast at about 11:34 a.m. Eastern today, Thursday, with live coverage starting at 10:20 a.m. That splashdown has not been reported here. It is still the plan.
The hatch closed at 6:05 a.m. Eastern Wednesday. An earlier NASA plan had put that closer to 6:20. Dragon left the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module. Between undocking and splashdown, NASA streams audio only. An image caption on the undocking post says five spaceships remain at the station, including the Crew-13 Dragon, a Cygnus XL cargo ship, Soyuz MS-29, and two Progress cargo ships.
Wednesday's edition had the departure as a plan, with undocking set for 8:05 a.m. Tuesday's edition had the clock change that moved the departure to that hour. NASA has now posted that the undocking happened. It has not posted a splashdown.
What is still unknown or disputed
- Whether the capsule splashes down at about 11:34 a.m. This story does not say that it has.
- The weather off California.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Undocks in Dragon for Ride Home
NASA Space Station blog · October 7, 2026
At 8:05 a.m. EDT, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/10/07/nasas-spacex-crew-12-undocks-in-dragon-for-ride-home/
Source 2
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Closes Dragon Hatch, Preps for Departure
NASA Space Station blog · October 7, 2026
At 6:05 a.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the International Space Station, marking the start of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 return operations.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/10/07/nasas-spacex-crew-12-closes-dragon-hatch-preps-for-departure/
Source 3
NASA’s plan: Crew-12 closes the hatch, with undocking set for 8:05 this morning
The File · October 7, 2026
The capsule is set to undock from the International Space Station on its own at 8:05 a.m.
/story/nasa-crew-12-undocking-day-oct7
Source 4
NASA moves Crew-12’s departure to Wednesday morning, with splashdown Thursday before noon
The File · October 6, 2026
NASA now plans to undock the Crew-12 capsule from the International Space Station at 8:05 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
/story/nasa-crew-12-undock-moves-to-805am-oct5