The first-ever NASA-SpaceX mission of bringing back the astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken is successful. The two astronauts have left Earth on May 30th this year, conducted researches, and returned to Earth on Sunday afternoon. Both were recovered by SpaceX safely from the Gulf of Mexico, where they’ve splash landed.
NASA astronauts Recovered Safely by SpaceX
During their 62-day space-time, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have engaged in virtual public events, spacewalks, and several scientific experiments. Together, they have made 1,024 orbits around the Earth by covering 27,147,284 miles.
While Hurley experimented with Droplet Formation Study inside of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) and Capillary Structures Investigation, Behnken made four spacewalks.
The two have been recovered from International Space Station on Saturday at 7.30 PM ET by SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Following that, the Endeavour (crew dragon) deorbit burn started at 1.56 PM ET on Sunday and reached earth by splashing down at 2.48 PM ET in the Gulf of Mexico. This was the first splashdown since 1975, where the Apollo-Soyuz between US-Soviet Union happened.
"Thanks for flying @SpaceX."
???? Current Location: Planet Earth
A 2:48pm ET, @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug splashed down, marking the first splashdown of an American crew spacecraft in 45 years. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/zO3KlNwxU3
— NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2020
Lifeboats and the SpaceX’s GO navigator recovery ship has recovered the Crew Dragon capsule at 3.17 PM ET and purged with vapor fumes. At 3.59 PM ET, the capsule was opened to let NASA’s surgeon in, check and pull out the two astronauts at 4.07 PM and 4.11 PM respectively.
Stakes were high during their return from space and splashdown to recovery since the oxygen was just available for 48 hours since their undocking.
The two astronauts will be taken to Houston after reaching the Pensacola port, to be checked again and applauded for their achievements at a ceremony in Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base.
