After eight months in orbit, Jessica Meir splashed home — and says she misses the breeze most

Commander Jessica Meir and crewmates Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot and Andrey Fedyaev splashed down in the Pacific off Los Angeles on Thursday aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon, closing nearly eight months on the International Space Station. They ran dozens of experiments — stem cells, crystal growth, bone loss in weightlessness — and Meir logged four spacewalks totaling more than 27 hours. Before leaving orbit she said she most looked forward to reuniting with her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter — and to “feeling the breeze on my face, the wind rustling through the leaves.”