Live - NASA Astronauts Return Home in SpaceX's Crew Dragon Spacecraft

On Aug. 1, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will depart from the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft after their mission aboard our orbiting laboratory.

Starting at 5:15 p.m. EDT, tune in for our live coverage to see the duo undock from the station and make their return back to planet Earth.

They are on the way home now. Next burn is in less than half an hour and then the astronauts are going to get some sleep.

They will splashdown into the Gulf of Mexico. The first splashdown in a long time will happen tomorrow.



View from the ISS. The Dragon is about 3.3 kilometers away from the station in this screen cap.

ETA - Departure burn 2 went good. They have now taken off their safety suits and put them away.

Screen cap of some screens.

This is really cool. I’m watching it live on C-Span. I believe they said this is the first splashdown in 45 years!

a reply to: ChiefD

That sounds about right. I am guessing the last one was when the astronauts for the US and Russia docked their spacecrafts together for a visit in space.

hope they are safe and packed lunch sounds like they have a long day. When they return to earth I hope someone buys them a beer and makes some old fashioned burgers and dogs.

The pair are expected to splash down off the coast of Florida just after 14:40 local time (19:40 BST) on Sunday.

A successful landing would mean America once again has a fully serviceable, fully certified means of getting its own people into orbit and back.

This capability was lost when the country retired its shuttles in 2011.

Nasa SpaceX crew return: Astronauts set for ocean splashdown

a reply to: ChiefD

First attempt at landing in Gulf of Mexico

Previous splashdown either in Atlantic or Pacific

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
They will splashdown into the Gulf of Mexico. The first splashdown in a long time will happen tomorrow.

The last US splashdown was the Apollo capsule that was part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

It landed in the Pacific ocean on July 24, 1975 - Just over 45 years ago, and 6 years to the day after the splashdown of Apollo 11 when it returned from the Moon.

a reply to: Saint Exupery

That was a strange mission.

the US vehicle was unnumbered

performed both joint and separate scientific experiments, including an arranged eclipse of the Sun by the Apollo module to allow instruments on the Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona. The pre-flight work provided useful engineering experience for later joint American–Russian space flights

I remember it being billed as the USSR and the US working in space together.

But we never did anything in space together after that, that required USSR and US spacecraft docking (nothing that was ever shared with the public anyway) or that I remember.

Lets hope for a safe return of our astronauts to Earth.

And that they don't have to use the extra food they have in the Dragon capsule.

Though the timing details could change, NASA has set the following coverage schedule for the major milestones on Sunday, Aug. 2:

Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico is targeted for 11:48 a.m. PT.
Post-splashdown news conference is set for 1:30 p.m. PT.

The reentry process is dramatic. "Crew Dragon will be traveling at orbital velocity prior to reentry, moving at approximately 17,500 miles per hour. The maximum temperature it will experience on reentry is approximately 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit," said NASA in a statement on July 24.

SpaceX splashdown: How to watch NASA astronauts return to Earth Sunday

originally posted by: LookingAtMars

I remember it being billed as the USSR and the US working in space together.

But we never did anything in space together after that, that required USSR and US spacecraft docking (nothing that was ever shared with the public anyway) or that I remember.

Maybe not the USSR, but they did (and still do) with Russia.

It could be argued that the Apollo-Soyuz cooperation helped lead to the past and current U.S.-Russia space cooperation.

The Russian MIR space station, which was built when Russia was still part of the USSR, was visited a few time starting in 1994 by a U.S. space shuttle just 3 years after the break-up of the USSR, and just 19 years after the Apollo-Soyuz mission.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

That is a good point.

Thank you for posting that.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Wow what a cool landing!
Those parachutes looked like jellyfish in the deep sea,really graceful !

Thanks for the headsup LAM,I had forgoten it was the landing today.

Anyone know why they have 2,then 4 chutes rather than just one big one?
Is it in case one fails?
Its just I would have thought there was a risk of them getting tangled up,but I guess the designers know what they are doing.

Great stuff,well done Space x and NASA!

They have splashed down!

Hope all is well.




ETA-







ETA - Levels of NTO are being detected. Nasty stuff you do not want exposure to. It is a fuel that powers the Draco thrusters.



ETA- They have been in the capsule a little more than a hour now, post landing.

ETA - They opened it and the med team is checking them out. That's the flight surgeon (Dr.) in blue.


ETA - The astronauts were being removed from the capsule when coverage was ended.



Looks like the USA is back.

It's about time.

My sound has gone on the 'puter?? so I had to watch it using subtitles, which were hilarious at times... and at other times simply ridiculous.
When they were pulling the capsule across the deck to the shelter, a headline came up, "Yes their dead" I haven't a clue what that was supposed to be, unless something to do with a tether that stopped the capsule from swaying which was what the subtitles were talking about at the time. Another was the mention of, 'Hypergirl' from time to time when they waited to open, I take it that had to do with one of the fuels.
Still it's great to see them safely home, though I would worry a little about the kerfuffle involved in getting them out, even though it was a safety issue, should there ever be a capsule hull compromised on landing, you'd need them out ASAP, not in this instance though.