Two NASA astronauts successfully splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, off Pensacola, Florida on Sunday afternoon after about 2 months at the International Space Station (ISS).
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley made history as the first Americans to splash down since the Apollo space vehicle in 1975. They were on board the Dragon Capsule, the first NASA-manned privately built capsule to launch into space.
During their fiery reentry to earth, the Dragon capsule lost communications for several minutes, but was quickly reestablished. The capsule dropped from the sky at around 400 miles per hour and hit the seas with a big splash.
Mission Control greeted the astronauts, “welcome back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX.”
The test flight is a milestone for Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, whose ultimate goal is to bring people to Mars. The company has been ferrying cargo to and from the space station. However, this manned flight serves as the final test for the SpaceX crew to be certified as “operational” for future missions.
The U.S. retired its space shuttles in 2011 and American astronauts had to pay to travel to space on board Russian spaceships. Today’s results means the U.S. can put people in orbit and return them safely in reusable Dragon capsules.
Bob Behnken and his crewmate Doug Hurley blasted off in their SpaceX Dragon capsule on May 30. They spent two months living and working on board the ISS.