Four astronauts safely returned on Monday from a record six-month NASA science mission aboard the International Space Station, splashing down with their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of a daylong flight home.

The Dragon vehicle, dubbed Endeavour, parachuted into the sea off the Florida coast, following a re-entry descent through Earth's atmosphere carried live by a NASA webcast.

Real-time infrared thermal video imaging captured a glimpse of the capsule streaking like a meteor through the night sky over the Gulf minutes before splashdown.

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