Nasa astronauts make historic splashdown after return to Earth on SpaceX’s ‘Endeavour’ capsule
- Successful homecoming of Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley is US space agency’s first such landing in 45 years
- Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX was first private company to send humans to orbit
US astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon, splashed down in the capsule in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after a two-month voyage that was Nasa’s first crewed mission from home soil in nine years.
Behnken and Hurley undocked from the station on Saturday and returned home to land in calm waters off Florida’s Pensacola coast on schedule at 2.48pm following a 21-hour overnight journey aboard Crew Dragon “Endeavour”.
Historic splashdown as SpaceX ‘Endeavour’ capsule brings US astronauts back to Earth
The successful splashdown, the first of its kind by Nasa in 45 years, was a final key test of whether Elon Musk’s spacecraft can transport astronauts to and from orbit – a feat no private company has accomplished before.
Spectators in private boats surrounded the splashdown site dozens of kilometres from shore as SpaceX and Nasa recovery teams used a crane to hoist the spacecraft out of the water and onto a boat.
“Thanks for doing the most difficult parts and the most important parts of human space flight – getting us into orbit and bringing us home,” Behnken told SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California, as the hatch door was opened.
“I’m just proud to be a small part of this whole effort to get a company and people to and from the space station,” Hurley said, giving a thumbs up as he was wheeled out of the spacecraft on a stretcher – a normal procedure as astronauts adjust to Earth’s gravity.
