{"id":17652,"date":"2020-08-02T20:27:34","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T12:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-astronauts-splash-down-in-spacex-dragon-capsule-capping-historic-mission\/"},"modified":"2020-08-02T20:27:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T12:27:34","slug":"nasa-astronauts-splash-down-in-spacex-dragon-capsule-capping-historic-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-astronauts-splash-down-in-spacex-dragon-capsule-capping-historic-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA astronauts splash down in SpaceX Dragon capsule, capping historic mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SpaceX\u2019s Dragon Endeavour capsule descends into the Gulf of Mexico at the end of its demonstration mission to the International Space Station. (NASA Photo \/ Bill Ingalls)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first mission to send NASA astronauts into orbit on a commercially owned spaceship came back down to Earth today with the splashdown of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the SpaceX and NASA teams, welcome back to planet Earth, and thanks for flying SpaceX,\u201d Mike Heiman, a lead member of SpaceX\u2019s operations team, told astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.<\/p>\n

The splashdown closed out a 64-day mission to the International Space Station, aimed at testing the first SpaceX Dragon to carry crew. The reusable spacecraft, which put 27.1 million miles on its orbital odometer, was dubbed Endeavour as a tribute to earlier spaceships.<\/p>\n

In May, Endeavour\u2019s launch atop SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket made history, and today\u2019s return to Earth did as well: It was the first time since 1975 that a crewed NASA spacecraft returned to Earth at sea, and the first space landing in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n

The splashdown marked the completion of the first mission to launch astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil since NASA\u2019s final space shuttle flight in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a great day for NASA, and a great day for the United States of America,\u201d NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a post-splashdown briefing. \u201cToday we really made history. We are entering a new era of human spaceflight, where NASA is no longer the purchaser, owner and operator of all the hardware. We are going to be a customer \u2014 one customer of many customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours later, at a celebratory ceremony in Houston, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk echoed Bridenstine\u2019s view that the mission marked a new era. \u201cWe\u2019re going to go to the moon, we\u2019re going to have a base on the moon, we\u2019re going to send people to Mars and make life multiplanetary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Musk also thanked the teams at SpaceX and NASA for the successful end of what he clearly considered a high-stress mission. \u201cI think my entire adrenaline just dumped,\u201d he said with a nervous laugh. \u201cThank God! You know, I\u2019m not very religious, but I prayed for this one.\u201d<\/p>\n