Washington, October 04 (QNA) - NASA announced that the return of the Crew-12 crew from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth has been pushed back until Wednesday due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Following a review of weather conditions and sea states in the splashdown area off the coast of California, a new date was set for Wednesday, Oct. 7, no earlier than the scheduled time, NASA said in a statement. 

Should the new timeline hold, the crew is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday before being transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The Crew-12 spacecraft had been scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Monday, after the crew had spent approximately eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The spacecraft launched on Feb. 13 and remained in orbit longer than originally planned. On Sept. 3, it set the longest spaceflight by European astronauts, surpassing 230 days in orbit. (QNA)