SpaceX's Endeavour crew capsule nails its water landing after returning NASA astronauts in historic mission for US

After spending two months in space, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have returned to Earth after spending 67 days in a historic mission for the US.

The Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission was a big deal for the United States – the first successful test of a commercial crew program to shuttle astronauts to the space station from US soil, after a decade of relying on Russian rockets.

The SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule autonomously undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, 2 August at 5.05 am IST (Saturday, 1 August at 7.35 pm EDT). Less than a day later, Endeavour along with its two occupants splashed down in a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida on Monday, 3 August at 12.18 am IST (2 August at 2.48 pm) EDT.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on board in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Recovery Endeavour and the crew onboard

After undocking from the space station, they began gradually decreasing their orbital altitude overnight and woke up to recorded wake-up calls from their sons.

"Good morning Dragon Endeavor," Hurley's son 10-year-old Jack said in a recorded message sent to the capsule. "I'm happy you went into space but I'm even happier that you're coming back home."

“Don’t worry, you can sleep in tomorrow,” said Behnken’s six-year-old son Theo, who was promised a puppy after the flight. “Hurry home so we can go get my dog.”

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken left, and Douglas Hurley is seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

When they were getting ready to splashdown, the onboard thrusters and Four Mark 3 Parachutes worked autonomously to slow the capsule, bringing Behnken and Hurley's speed of 28,158 kph (17,500 mph) in orbit down to 563 kph (350 mph) upon atmospheric reentry, and eventually 24 kph (15 mph) at splashdown.

During reentry to Earth's atmosphere, the capsule's outer shell withstood temperatures as high as 1, 926 degrees Celsius (3,500 Fahrenheit) while Behnken and Hurley experienced temperatures of 29 degrees Celsius (85 Fahrenheit) inside the capsule.

"On behalf of the SpaceX and NASA teams, welcome back to Planet Earth. Thanks for flying SpaceX," SpaceX mission control said upon splashdown.

"It was truly our honour and privilege," Hurley had radioed back.

Within a half-hour of splashdown, the crew capsule was hoisted aboard the SpaceX recovery ship GO Navigator. After preliminary medical check-ups, the astronauts were flown by helicopter to Pensacola and then to Houston.

However, the recovery process was not without its drama as once the capsule had splashed down in the ocean, private boats “just made a beeline for it,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. They got very close to the capsule endangering a sensitive mission and Bridenstine promised to do better next time at keeping sightseers on pleasure boats safely away.

Private boats could be seen near the capsule during recovery. image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had rushed to Houston from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, to welcome them. “I’m not very religious, but I prayed for this one,” he said.

You’re up next Crew-1! #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/9NtAulicVG

— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) August 3, 2020

"No matter where you are on planet Earth, this is a good thing."@SpaceX CEO @ElonMusk reflects on the success of the #LaunchAmerica mission and what it means for commercial space capability: pic.twitter.com/qYjBRd2GPO

— NASA (@NASA) August 3, 2020

Hurley and Behnken made their first public appearance in Houston, Texas, during a media event after they had met their families.

During the press meet that was live-streamed on NASA TV, Hurley said: "We're not gonna stand right now."

"For those of you who have done this before," Hurley added, "you know, it's not pleasant standing for a few hours after you get back."

“It took years to get here, we brought the capability back to America, and we came home safely to our families, and it took a lot of people a lot of time to make that happen,” Behnken said.

.@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

“We are entering a new era of human spaceflight where NASA is no longer the purchaser, owner and operator of all the hardware. We’re going to be a customer, one customer of many,” Bridenstine said from Johnson Space Center in Houston. “I would love to see a fleet of crew Dragons servicing not just the International Space Station but also commercial space stations.”

No ordinary mission

Firstly, the mission to the ISS was wrought with uncertainty as this was the first time SpaceX was launching a crewed mission on the Crew Dragon after being NASA's commercial cargo-partner for more than a decade. Human spaceflight is incredibly difficult and expensive; the rockets need to be reliable and the capsule the astronauts will travel in need to be safe for human spaceflights. To date, only three countries – Russia, the United States and China – have achieved this feat.

Secondly, this mission is important because this mission marked the first time in almost ten years that American astronauts were launched into space from American soil. And the cherry on top of this cake was the that this is the first time that a private company has launched humans begins instead of a government space agency. Now with a successful crewed mission, once again, in its kitty, NASA can take a confident step with re-launching humans to the moon with its Artemis mission.

The third reason is that while this was just a test flight, a lot is riding on this mission for SpaceX especially their Commerical crew partnership with NASA. This test flight served as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceX’s crew transportation system. This mission will also lay the groundwork for all of SpaceX's plans for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

NASA and SpaceX teams will inspect the Crew Dragon Endeavour in SpaceX’s Dragon Lair in Florida. A thorough review will be conducted of all the data and performance of the spacecraft from the test flight. This review will take around six weeks to complete after which SpaceX’s crew transportation system will be certified for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station.

"Five hours ago we were bobbing around in the Gulf of Mexico."@Astro_Doug reflects on the journey that took him and @AstroBehnken to the @Space_Station and back with the @Commercial_Crew program. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/E1zzeEunaa

— NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2020

According to Space.com, it would be a surprise if the data showed any anomalies since Demo-2 appears to have gone very smoothly, from liftoff to splashdown.

The fourth and final reason is that if this mission is given the green light, the idea of space tourists won't be just an idea any longer. SpaceX is already signing up passengers for trips to space at $35 million a seat. This mission will make this a reality. With the trouble Boeing till dealing with technical failures and undergoing reviews, SpaceX has overtaken it to become the first private launch partner of NASA which is a big deal in itself.

 

Looking back at the SpaceX mission

The launch of the first crewed mission was not an easy journey right up until the lift-off of the Falcon 9 that carried the two NASA astronauts. The mission was rescheduled the first time around due to bad weather but on Sunday, 31 May, 12.52 pm IST (May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT) from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida the SpaceX Endeavour aboard the Falcon 9 lifted off. SpaceX leased the historic launch site that was also used to for the previous Apollo and Space Shuttle missions.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A during preparations for the Demo-2 mission. Image credit; NASA

Nineteen hours later, on 31 May, at 7.47 pm IST both astronauts docked into the orbiting spacecraft that flies 400 km above Earth at 17,500 mph.

While the Crew Dragon is capable of carrying up to seven passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond but will only be carrying four passengers during NASA human spaceflight launches. Before it was modified to carry human beings, SpaceX was using the Dragon as a cargo carrier, for resupply missions to the ISS. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is a partially-reusable two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. Its first stage is capable of re-entering the atmosphere and landing vertically after separating from the second stage, which is why it is partially re-usable.

Hard work in space

While onboard, the two astronauts worked on a number of science experiments separately and together.

Hurley conducted the Droplet Formation Study which evaluates water droplet formation and water flow as well as studied the use of different structures and containers to manage fluids and gases.

Behnken conducted four spacewalks with astronaut Chris Cassidy. Among other things, they upgraded two power channels, routed power and Ethernet cable and removed the coverings in preparation for the arrival of the Nanoracks commercial airlock later this year.

Hurley and Behnken also worked on the Electrolysis Measurement (EM) experiment, which looks at bubbles created using electrolysis and has implications for numerous electrochemical reactions and devices. They also contributed images to the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) study. CEO images help record how our planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes like urban growth and reservoir construction, natural events including hurricanes, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc.

What does the future hold?

Later this year, the first official flight - Crew-1 - is supposed to carry four astronauts to the ISS with one female astronaut Shannon Walker and one international astronaut Soichi Noguchi from Japan. NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins will act as Crew Dragon commander and Victor Glover will be the pilot.

The Endeavour capsule will be resued in the second Crew mission that is supposed to take place next year. This mission will also include four astronauts and one of them has a special connection to Demo-2 Behnken - his wife Megan McArthur who will also be joining the Commerical Crew Mission. The rest of the crew will include Shane Kimbrough who will act as the spacecraft commander, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

"Of course, I'll have a lot of tips for her," Behnken said during a news conference when he was on the ISS.

"A lot of them will be about how life on space station goes," he added. "But I'll definitely have some advice about living inside of Dragon and where best to pack all your personal items so that you can get to them conveniently."

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