NASA's Crew Dragon Endeavor Splashes Down To Earth With Astronauts Behnken, Hurley Aboard

More than nineteen hours after the Dragon Endeavor capsule undocked from the International Space Station(ISS), it splashed down to earth at about 18:48 UTC Sunday, in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida. This is the first splashdown in 45 years.

The Dragon with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard, undocked from the ISS at about 23:35 UTC Saturday.

As the Dragon performs its departure burn(firing forward bulkhead thrusters) maneuvers to move away from the ISS and headed close to the earth's atmosphere, Hurley and Behnken got in some 8 hours of sleep. The Dragon was mostly autonomous through its 17 hours journey to the earth's atmosphere.

Both astronauts began preparing for splashdown when the Dragon got closer to the earth's atmosphere.

“Once we wake up, we will eat, fluid load, go through suit up, and then work our way into the entry portion of the flight and then the deorbit burn, then entry. So we’ll be fairly busy when we’re awake throughout the whole process,” Hurley said Friday. “Those last probably two and a half to three hours will be very busy as we get suited up, strapped into our seats and then we’ll be monitoring all the different systems of the vehicle, ensuring that it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing as we work our way back towards Florida.”

When the Dragon got close to the earth's atmosphere, it performed the 'claw and trunk separation' at 17:51 UTC Sunday. The claw is located on Crew Dragon’s trunk, connecting thermal control, power, and avionics system components located on the trunk to the capsule. Dragon continued to Earth but the trunk burned up. The trunk needs to separate to expose the spacecraft heat shield.

Deorbit burn began at 17:56 UTC, to lower the spacecraft’s orbit until it intersected with planet Earth. This burn is the longest of the return home lasting more than 11 minutes.

Nosecone deployed at 18:11 UTC. This protectively covers the forward bulkhead thrusters, docking ring and number of other sensors used for approach and rendezvous with the Space Station.

At 18:32 UTC, Dragon Endeavor maneuvered to attitude for re-entry. It experienced significant heating and drag as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, which slowed the velocity to the point of safe parachute deploy. There was also a communication blackout for a short time.

The Dragon’s Drogue parachutes deployed at 18:44 UTC, at about 18,000 feet in altitude while the capsule is moving approximately 350 miles per hour, this began slowing down the capsule. At 18:45 UTC, the main parachutes deployed at about 6,000 feet in altitude while the capsule was moving at approximately 119 miles per hour, this continued to slow it down.

Finally, at 18:48 UTC, Dragon Endeavour splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.

Cheers could be heard at the mission control center.“On behalf of the SpaceX and NASA teams, welcome home and thanks for flying SpaceX,” mission control radioed to the capsule after it landed.

“It’s truly our honor and privilege,” Hurley responded. “On behalf of the Dragon Endeavour, congrats to NASA and SpaceX.”

Recovery teams were already waiting at about 3 nautical miles from the splashdown site. Hurley and Behnken remained inside the capsule, as the teams approached and pulled the capsule onto a a recovery ship called Go Navigator. Both astronauts were later helped out of Dragon Endeavor and welcomed home.

Each of the astronauts gave a thumbs up sign as they were wheeled off the spacecraft on a stretcher — a routine practice for astronauts who’ve experience prolonged period without gravity.

“Thank you for doing the most important parts and most difficult parts of human spaceflight, sending us into orbit and bringing us home safely," said Behnken, who was first out of the capsule. "Thank you very much for the good ship Endeavour.”

Hurley came out moments later. "For anyone who’s touched Endeavour, you should take a moment to cherish this day given everything that’s happened this year,” he said.

"We are entering a new era of human spaceflight, where NASA is no longer the purchaser, owner and operator of all the hardware," said NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine in a call with reporters.

"This is really just the beginning: we are starting the journey of bringing people regularly to and from low Earth orbit, on to the Moon, and then ultimately on to Mars," added Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX.

President Trump tweeted "Great to have NASA Astronauts return to Earth after very successful two month mission. Thank you to all!" He later added, "Astronauts complete first splashdown in 45 years. Very exciting!"

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted, "Congratulations @SpaceX & @NASA on completing first crewed Dragon flight!! returned." He also later added, "When space travel becomes as common as air travel, the future of civilization will be assured."

Behnken and Hurley arrived at the ISS on May 31, after becoming the first to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the first human spaceflight from U.S. soil in nearly nine years.