Dragon Capsule, the first NASA-manned privately built capsule to launch into space, splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday afternoon, bringing astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley back home after about 2 months at the International Space Station (ISS).
The capsule landed in the ocean just before 3pm EST and was met with applause from the mission control team, which had been live-streaming the command center and final minutes of the capsule’s descent back to Earth.
Although the audio from the Dragon Capsule was choppy, Doug Hurley could be heard saying “all good” shortly after splashdown. Fast boats quickly commenced the final portion of the mission, which involved hoisting the capsule onto a recovery ship, from which the astronauts will emerge.
NASA posted a video of the splash landing on Twitter, which shows the capsule landing in the Gulf of Mexico at an expected 15-16 miles per hour. Someone could be heard saying, “Thanks for flying SpaceX.”
“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
.@AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug have been lifted out of the water and are aboard the Go Navigator. Welcome home. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/gjqUcLMy8X
— NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2020
The hatch to the capsule was opened aboard the recovery ship at 3:59 EST, and astronaut Behnken was the first to be brought out of the space craft, which the duo was allowed to nickname “Endeavour.”
“To anybody who has touched Endeavour, you should take a moment to just cherish this day, especially given all the things that have happened this year,” said Hurley. “We certainly can’t thank you enough, our families can’t thank you enough.”
“To anybody who has touched Endeavour, you should take a moment to just cherish this day.”
Touching words from @Astro_Doug as @AstroBehnken is safely brought out of the spacecraft. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/0yKUWbD9Ed
— NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2020
Hurley joined Behnken outside of the capsule shortly after.
Applause is heard from the @SpaceX teams as @Astro_Doug has joins @AstroBehnken safely out of the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/3aBzXbAzuG
— NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2020
During a press conference from space on Friday, Hurley explained that the two of them had been preparing for the splash landing, a physically demanding way to return to Earth that has not happened with a NASA-manned capsule since 1975.
“The water-landing portion of it is pretty challenging from a physiological standpoint just after coming back from being in microgravity,” said Hurly.
“We’ve exercised very hard while we’ve been up here, and we’re just trying to put ourselves in the best posture to deal with those affects,” he said.
Despite the unprecedented nature of landing a manned private spacecraft, Behnken told reporters on Friday that he wasn’t too worried about the mission ahead.
“We’re focused on the things that we’ll need to do to be as safe as possible,” said Benkhen.
[Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional information].
