Spacex returns four astronauts to Earth
Spacex has returned four astronauts from the International Space Station, marking the first US crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 Moon mission. The Dragon capsule arrival ends the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk's company.
Spacex has returned four astronauts from the International Space Station, marking the first US crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 Moon mission.
The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk's company . It was an express trip home, lasting just six-and-a-half hours.
The astronauts, three American and one Japanese, flew back in the same capsule – named Resilience – in which they launched from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre in November.
"We welcome you back to planet Earth and thanks for flying Spacex," Spacex's Mission Control radioed moments after splashdown. "For those of you enrolled in our frequent flyer programme, you've earned 68 million miles on this voyage."
"We'll take those miles," said spacecraft commander Mike Hopkins. "Are they transferrable?" Spacex replied that the astronauts would have to check with the company's marketing department.
Within half an hour of splashdown, the charred capsule had been hoisted onto the recovery ship, with the astronauts exiting soon afterwards. Nasa and Spacex managers marvelled at how fast and smooth the operation went. The company's senior adviser, Hans Koenigsmann, said "it looked more like a race car pit stop than anything else".
Mr Hopkins was the first one out, doing a little dance as he emerged under the intense spotlights.
"It's amazing what can be accomplished when people come together," he told Spacex flight controllers at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California. "Quite frankly, you all are changing the world. Congratulations. It's great to be back."
Their 167-day mission is the longest for astronauts launching from the US. The previous record of 84 days was set by Nasa's final Skylab station crew in 1974.
Saturday night's undocking left seven people at the space station, four of whom arrived a week ago via Spacex.
"Earthbound!" Nasa astronaut Victor Glover tweeted after departing the station. "One step closer to family and home!"
Mr Glover – along with Mr Hopkins and Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi – should have returned to Earth last Wednesday, but high offshore winds forced Spacex to miss two daytime landing attempts. Managers switched to a rare splashdown in darkness, to take advantage of calm weather.
Spacex had practised for a night-time return, just in case, and even recovered its most recent station cargo capsule from the Gulf of Mexico in darkness. Infrared cameras tracked the capsule as it re-entered the atmosphere; it resembled a bright star streaking through the night sky. All four main parachutes could be seen deploying just before splashdown, which was also visible in the infrared.
Apollo 8 – Nasa's first flight to the Moon with astronauts – ended with a pre-dawn splashdown in the Pacific near Hawaii on December 27, 1968. Eight years later, a Soviet capsule ended up in a lake in Kazakhstan, blown off course in a blizzard.