SpaceX splashdown replay: See NASA astronauts safely return to Earth – CNET

The first return of a commercially constructed and operated US spacecraft carrying two NASA astronauts from the World Self-discipline Space made waves Sunday when it splashed down within the Gulf of Mexico merely as scheduled at 11: 48 a.m. PT. 

The SpaceX Crew Dragon passengers — NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley — fittingly named the historic past-making spacecraft Endeavour. The astronauts safely exited the spacecraft on Sunday afternoon after a restoration at sea.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine welcomed the astronauts dwelling in a tweet. 

Crew Dragon undocked from the ISS at 4: 35 p.m. PT on Saturday, kicking off the needed final leg of the crewed test mission that’s meant to order SpaceX is able to carry astronauts backward and ahead to the ISS on a accepted foundation. Crew Dragon had beforehand aced its uncrewed Demo-1 test flight wait on in March.

NASA TV livestreamed the crew pill’s return and became once scheduled to broadcast a apply-up news conference at 1: 30 p.m. PT on Sunday.

Behnken and Hurley arrived on the ISS in leisurely Would possibly perchance perhaps perhaps merely after a gentle start. The return time table became once in the beginning unsafe due to the appearance of a well-known storm along the Florida soar.

Crew Dragon had seven probably splashdown web sites within the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean to determine from. A collection apart off the soar of Pensacola, Florida, won the honor. The climate held out successfully, giving the astronauts restful waters to land in.

A SpaceX restoration ship named GO Navigator became once on area to retrieve the pill, crew and parachutes. In a news conference on Friday, Behnken and Hurley acknowledged they’d hang baggage ready in case they skilled seasickness while staring at for pickup by the restoration crew. The astronauts reported they had been doing smartly after splashdown.

The splashdown adopted a anxious reentry job that set apart fairly about a heat and stress on the spacecraft. Crew Dragon’s parachutes deployed as it closed in on its goal and brought it gently down into the sea. Scorch marks on the pill had been a testomony to the pains of its return scurry.

There became once a extend in opening the Crew Dragon hatch on board GO Navigator because the restoration crew purged toxic vapor fumes from around the pill.

Hurley and Behnken had been taken to a scientific facility on the ship for preliminary checkups as section of the long-established return procedures. They had been scheduled for a helicopter lope wait on to shore. 

“To anyone who has touched Endeavour, you might want to restful bring collectively a second to just appropriate cherish as of late,” acknowledged Hurley at some level of the exit from Crew Dragon.

If the Demo-2 mission assessment goes smoothly, then NASA and SpaceX will spin ahead with the first operational Crew Dragon mission, which is scheduled to start later this one year. 

The safe return of Behnken and Hurley opens up a original future for US spaceflight. It fulfills the promise of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program and its quest to discontinue the blueprint company’s dependence on Russian spacecraft to carry its astronauts to the ISS.