ISS astronauts return to Earth in SpaceX craft after 6-month mission

Four astronauts returned to Earth Monday in a SpaceX craft after spending six months on the International Space Station, a NASA live broadcast showed, marking the end of a busy mission.

The international crew conducted thousands of experiments in orbit and helped upgrade the solar panels on the ISS during their "Crew-2" mission.

Its descent slowed by four huge parachutes, their Dragon spacecraft -- dubbed "Endeavour" -- splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico at 10:33 pm (0333 GMT Tuesday) before it was lifted onto a recovery ship.

NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, Akihiko Hoshide of Japan and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency were then taken out of the capsule and placed on stretchers as a precautionary measure -- human bodies need to re-adjust to gravity after extended periods in space.

"It's great to be back to Planet Earth," Kimbrough was heard saying on the NASA live broadcast after Dragon splashed down.

The ISS activities of the Crew-2 astronauts included documenting the surface of the Earth to record human-caused changes and natural events, growing Hatch chile peppers, and studying worms to better understand human health changes in space.

"Proud to have represented France once again in space! Next stop, the Moon?" Pesquet had tweeted ahead of the trip home.

Their journey back to Earth began when Endeavour undocked from the ISS at 2:05 pm NASA announced.