INTERNATIONAL:  Four astronauts have splashed down off the coast of Florida aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Monday, capping a six-month NASA science mission aboard the International Space Station and a daylong flight home.

The Dragon spacecraft has spent nearly nine hours slowly maneuvering through orbit, approaching the thick inner layer of Earth's atmosphere before the Crew Dragon lit up its thrusters to safely slice into the air, deploy parachutes and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico around 10:30 pm Monday.

Live thermal video imaging has captured a glimpse of the capsule streaking like a meteor through the night sky over the Gulf minutes before splashdown.

Applause was heard from the flight control center as the four main parachutes inflated above the capsule as it drifted down toward the Gulf surface, slowing its speed to about 24 kilometres per hour before dropping gently into the calm sea. Recovery vessels were shown headed toward the water-proof Crew Dragon as it floats upright in the water. 

A fleet of rescue ships awaited the crew’s arrival, which spent 199 days in space and brought the four astronauts — mission commander Shane Kimbrough and pilot Megan McArthur, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, a French Engineer of the European Space Agency, and Akihiko Hosehide from Japan — to safety. They were lofted to orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off on April 23 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It was the third crew launched into orbit under NASA's fledgling public-private partnership with SpaceX, the rocket company.

^{PHOTO: SPACEX DRAGON VEHICLE ENDEAVOUR RETURNING TO EARTH THEN BEING HOISTED ONTO A BOAT, HATCH OPENING AND CREW EXITING THE CRAFT ONE-BY-ONE.}