Published 01:26 IST, August 3rd 2020
'Dragon is stable': Elon Musk confirms good splashdown after Crew Dragon's 19hr journey
Crew Dragon Capsule’s 19-hour journey definitely kept the SpaceX CEO on the edge of his seat. In a series of tweets, Musk had been updating the historic event
Elon Musk is a happy man today! As the Crew Dragon capsule splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico at 12:18 am IST on August 3, the SpaceX CEO took to Twitter to inform that the ‘dragon is stable’. Crew Dragon’s successful landing in the ocean marked the first splashdown in 45 years,
Crew Dragon Capsule’s 19-hour journey definitely kept the SpaceX CEO on the edge of his seat. In a series of tweets, Musk had been updating the historic return of the two NASA astronauts. While in one tweet he informed that the Dragon lost its signal, in another he said that the acquisition of signal is expected in 5 mins.
The long wait ended as NASA and SpaceX teams confirmed a 'good splashdown' and welcomed the two US astronauts, Bob Behnken and Douglas Hurley, on Earth after 63 days in space.
Historic splashdown
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Capsule successfully landed in the ocean off the coast of Florida at 12:18 am IST on August 3. After spending 63-days at the International Space Station (ISS), the two US astronauts, Bob Behnken and Douglas Hurley returned to Earth. The NASA astronauts blasted off from the Cape Canaveral on May 30 and landed at ISS the next day.
Behnken and Hurley made history when they became the first people to be launched into low-Earth orbit on a commercial spacecraft built by SpaceX. The mission, Demo-2, also marked the first time NASA had launched astronauts from US soil in nine years.
Now that the two astronauts have landed, the Crew Dragon Capsule will be in the water for about an hour before it is hauled by crane onto a SpaceX recovery ship. It will be another hour before the hatch is opened and the two astronauts are moved to recovery.
(Image Credits: AP)
Updated 01:26 IST, August 3rd 2020