Sunday, August 2, 2020

SpaceX capsule lands in Gulf

PENSACOLA, Fla. - NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken returned home Sunday when their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico south of Pensacola, Fla., at 2:48 CDT. It was the first time NASA astronauts have landed in the water since 1975, and the first ever in the Gulf of Mexico. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Endeavor, was hoisted aboard the deck of the company's "Go Navigator" recovery vessle. The splash down marked the completion of the first manned mission of NASA’s commercial crew program. Hurley and Behnken spent two months on the International Space Station after launching in late May from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in the first crewed space launch from American soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. The astronauts were slated to be taken by helicopter to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. (Source: GCAC, NPR, Washington Post, 08/02/20) Previous