The four astronauts trapped inside the SpaceX crew dragon capsule safely sailed into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida after a six-month scientific mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Endeavor dragon was parachuted into the sea at 10:30 pm as planned. EST Monday (03:30 GMT Tuesday), following a fiery re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere broadcast, live by a NASA webcast.
The autonomous spacecraft had two NASA astronauts, Commander Shane Kimbro and pilot Megan MacArthur. They were accompanied by French astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan. Acting autonomously, the spacecraft embarked on its eight-hour return journey, flying a 90-minute orbit around the space station earlier in the day and snatching a series of survey photos of crew orbital outposts, orbiting the Earth about 250 miles (400 km) high. Crew Dragon then proceeded with several strategies during the day to bring it closer to Earth and to line up the capsule for a final landing at night. Capsule re-entered the atmosphere at a speed of 27,000 km (approximately 17,000 miles per hour), during which time the crew lost contact for a few minutes. As the capsule sinks through the atmosphere, frictional heat is generated which typically raises the temperature around the outside of the vehicle to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius).
Recovery ships were shown approaching the water-proof crew dragon as it sank straight into the water. The astronauts and their capsules are expected to be lifted from the sea in about an hour, NASA said. The crew consists of two NASA astronauts – mission commander Shane Kimbro, 54, and pilot Megan MacArthur, 50 – along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, 52, and associate mission expert Thomas Pesquet, 43, a French astronaut from the European Space Agency.
It was the third crew to enter orbit under rocket company SpaceX, formed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, under NASA’s new public-private partnership, which also founded electric car maker Tesla Inc. The return team was named “Crew 2” because it marked the second “operational” space station crew to board a SpaceX capsule since NASA restarted a manned spacecraft from American soil last year, after a nine-year hiatus towards the end of the United States. Space Shuttle Program in 2011.
Bad weather and what NASA has called a “minor medical problem” has delayed the launch of the next astronauts – the Crew-3 mission – which is set to launch on Wednesday. One of the irregularities encountered by the returning crew 2 was a plumbing leak in the capsule that caused the spacecraft’s toilet to go out of order.
