NASA astronauts cap historic ‘odyssey’ aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule
(VOVWORLD) - Two US astronauts, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon capsule, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after a 2-month voyage that was NASA’s first crewed mission from home soil in 9 years.
|
 US astronauts Bob Behnken (R) and Doug Hurle.
(Photo: AFP/VNA)
|
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurle, tallying 64 days in space, undocked from the station on Saturday and returned home to land their capsule in calm waters off Florida’s Pensacola coast on schedule at 2:48 p.m. (local time) following a 21-hour overnight journey aboard Crew Dragon.
The successful splash-down, the first by NASA in 45 years, was a final test of whether SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk’s spacecraft could transport astronauts to and from orbit, a feat no private company has accomplished before.