Monday, August 3, 2020
SpaceX Crew Dragon Successfully Splashes Down In Gulf
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX successfully splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida on Sunday, returning two astronauts--Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley--to earth, the first successful launch and return of astronauts to and from the United States since the retirement of the Space Shuttle. The Crew Dragon capsule splashed down at 2:48p.m. ETD, bringing a successful end to the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. The mission is expected to herald in future manned missions to the ISS on SpaceX rockets and capsules, as part of NASA's Commercial Crew program. Behnken and Hurley were launched into space on May 30th. NASA said it expects to launch the first, official operational mission for NASA, the Crew-1 mission, in September.