Watch | SpaceX capsule with four ISS astronauts, wearing adult diapers, splashes down off Florida

Four astronauts from the Crew-2 mission, which has been in orbit since spring, splashed down off the coast of Pensacola in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday night.

Following a dramatic re-entry fall through Earth's atmosphere, the Dragon vehicle, named Endeavour, parachuted into the sea as planned at around 10:30 p.m. EST on Monday (0330 GMT Tuesday).

The astronauts had to wear adult diapers on their return journey, after a leak was discovered in the SpaceX-made capsule's toilet.

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The spacecraft started its eight-hour return journey earlier in the day with a 90-minute fly-around of the space station, during which the crew took a series of survey images of the orbiting outpost, which was circling the globe at a height of 250 miles (400 kilometres).

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, as well as Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, are now waiting to be picked up.

The Coast Guard is assisting, and a 10-mile zone has been established to keep vessels away from the splashdown zone.

The removal of their SpaceX spacecraft from the International Space Station has also cleared the way for the launch of its four successors as soon as Wednesday night.

The newbies were supposed to launch first, but NASA changed the sequence due to severe weather and an unnamed medical problem of one of the astronauts.

(With inputs from agencies)