Crew Dragon splashdown on track, NASA astronauts returning after 63-day stay at ISS

NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Douglas Hurley, are on the last leg of their journey home as they return to Earth after spending 63 days at International Space Station (ISS). While the two astronauts blasted off from the Cape Canaveral on May 30, they are now all prepared to make the first splashdown return to Earth in 45 years. The pair is expected to land in the ocean off the coast of Florida around 12:18 am IST on August 3. 

READ: SpaceX Guiding NASA Astronauts To First Splashdown In 45 Years

Behnken and Hurley made history when they became the first people to be launched into low-Earth orbit on a commercial spacecraft built by SpaceX. The mission, Demo-2, also marked the first time NASA had launched astronauts from US soil in nine years. Now, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Capsule is all set to land in the water off Pensacola in western Florida. 

While the primary targeted site remains the coast Pensacola, which the US space agency said is far away from Hurricane Isaias, the alternate site is off the coast of Panama City in the Gulf of Mexico for splashdown and recovery.

Once back on Earth, the Crew Dragon Capsule will be in the water for about an hour before it is hauled by crane onto a SpaceX recovery ship. It will be another hour before the hatch is opened and the two astronauts are moved to recovery. 

READ: NASA Astronauts Aim For Florida Coast To End SpaceX Flight

Historic splashdown 

The Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Pad 39A on May 30 at 12:52 am IST to the International Space Station from the American turf. The splashdown will mark the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the space station, wrapping up NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission. 

NASA Television is covering the mission live from undocking to splashdown. The farewell ceremony of SpaceX Dragon Demo-2 began around 6:40 pm IST and NASA TV undocking coverage will start at 2:45 am IST.

(Image: @JimBrindestine/Twitter)

READ: NASA, SpaceX Target Gulf Of Mexico For Crew Dragon Splashdown; Monitoring Hurricane Isaias

READ: NASA Astronaut Bob Behnken Prepared For Splashdown, Tweets 'my Bags Are Packed' From ISS