"Thanks SpaceX": Four Nasa astronauts splashdown in Gulf of Mexico

Four Astronauts returned back to Earth on Monday, riding home with SpaceX to end 200 days mission that began earlier this year.

“On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to Planet Earth,” SpaceX Mission Control radioed from Southern California.

Their homecoming was just eight hours after leaving the International Space Station _ paved the way for SpaceX’s launch of their four replacements as early as Wednesday night.

German astronaut Matthias Maurer, who’s waiting to launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, tweeted it was a shame the two crews wouldn’t overlap at the space station but “we trust you’ll leave everything nice and tidy.” His will be SpaceX’s fourth crew flight for NASA in just 1 1/2 years.

“One more night with this magical view. Who could complain? I’ll miss our spaceship!” Pesquet tweeted Sunday alongside a brief video showing the space station illuminated against the blackness of space and the twinkling city lights on the nighttime side of Earth.