U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX's new Crew Dragon, were riding the capsule home for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after a two-month voyage that was NASA's first crewed mission from home soil in nine years.
- U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon, were riding the capsule home for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after a two-month voyage that was NASA’s first crewed mission from home soil in nine years.
Behnken and Hurley undocked from the station late on Saturday to begin their 21-hour trip home aboard Crew Dragon “Endeavor,” gradually decreasing their orbital altitude overnight and awaking Sunday morning to recorded wake-up calls from their sons. For the return sequence before splashdown, on-board thrusters and two sets of parachutes will work autonomously to slow the capsule, bringing Behnken and Hurley’s speed of 17,500 miles per hour in orbit down to 350 mph upon atmospheric reentry, and eventually 15 mph at splashdown.
NASA and SpaceX officials ruled out splashdown options in the Atlantic earlier this week to avoid running into Tropical Storm Isaias, a cyclone forecast to churn alongside Florida’s east coast in the coming days. The landmark mission, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 31, marked the first time the U.S. space agency launched humans from American soil since its shuttle program retired in 2011. Since then the United States has relied on Russia’s space program to launch its astronauts to the space station.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NASA astronauts riding SpaceX capsule poised for weekend return, weather permittingThe two NASA astronauts who rode to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's new Crew Drago are due to return on Sunday after a nearly four-month voyage that marked NASA's first crewed mission from home soil in nine years. U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who launched to the space station in May, are expected to board Crew Dragon around 5:30 p.m. ET and splash down at one of seven landing sites in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean at about 2:48 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Read more »
NASA astronauts’ scheduled return to Earth aboard SpaceX capsule uncertain due to weatherNASA astronauts' scheduled return to Earth via SpaceX capsule uncertain due to weather: “We won’t leave the space station without some good landing opportunities in front of us.”
Read more »
SpaceX set to bring NASA astronauts home from historic mission (weather permitting)NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, the first-ever astronauts to travel into orbit aboard a commercially developed spacecraft, are aiming to return to Earth this weekend — if an incoming hurricane doesn't delay those plans.
Read more »
History-making NASA-SpaceX astronauts returning from International Space StationTheir return would mark the first time a commercially built American spacecraft returned from space. It's also NASA's first crewed water landing since 1975.
Read more »
NASA-SpaceX mission: Astronauts prepare to board Crew Dragon from the ISSNASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are preparing to leave the International Space Station this evening and begin their 19-hour journey home, capping off their historic mission aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft
Read more »
'Isaias may actually help': NASA plans Sunday splashdown of SpaceX capsule off Florida coast'So not intuitive, but Isaias may actually help make nice weather on landing a few hundred miles west,' said Zebulon Scoville, NASA’s flight director.
Read more »