Crew Dragon splashdown in Gulf of Mexico successful, first crew recovery at sea since 1975

In a historic moment, 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 the two marked the first splashdown in 45 years. 

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Historic Splashdown 

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. 

The Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Pad 39A on May 30 at 12:52 am IST to the International Space Station from the American turf. The splashdown marked the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the space station, wrapping up NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission. 

NASA Television covered the mission live from undocking to splashdown. The farewell ceremony of SpaceX Dragon Demo-2 began around 6:40 pm IST and NASA TV undocking coverage will start at 2:45 am IST.

(Image Credits: AP) 

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