Alpha: a return to Earth in one minute

After 199 days in space, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet left the International Space Station together with alongside NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, marking the end of his second six-month mission known as Alpha.

The return to Earth took ten hours, including a two-hour fly-around of the International Space Station, but this highlight reel shows the key moments of the journey in just a minute. From the Space Station to undocking, fly-around, reentry and splashdown off the coast of Florida, USA.

Thomas and crew splashed down on 9 November 2021 at 03:33 GMT (04:33 CET). From there Thomas flew to Cologne, Germany, where he is being monitored by ESA’s space medicine team as he readapts to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s astronaut centre and German Aerospace Centre’s  ‘Envihab’ facility.