Dragon huffing and puffing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — What's it like riding a Dragon? NASA astronaut Bob Behnken summed it up in one word: alive.

Behnken and Doug Hurley are the first people to ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. Both astronauts had previously flown on the space shuttle, and Behnken described the differences during a Sunday news conference from the International Space Station.

“We were surprised a little bit at how smooth things were off the pad," Behnken said. "The space shuttle is a pretty rough ride heading into orbit with the solid rocket boosters."

The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage has nine Merlin engines that propel the rocket upward for roughly 2 ½ minutes before the rocket's first stage separates and returns to Earth for a vertical landing (Saturday's first stage landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship in the Atlantic Ocean). After the first stage separates, the rocket's second stage, powered by one Merlin Vacuum Engine, takes over.

The astronauts expected the rocket's second stage would provide a smoother ride.

"But Dragon was huffing and puffing all the way into orbit," Behnken said, "and we were defi

nitely driving or riding a Dragon all the way up."

This latter portion of the flight was not as smooth as the shuttle.

"A little bit less Gs," he said, "but a little bit more alive is probably the best way I would describe it."

After launching from Kennedy Space Center at 2:22 p.m. CDT Saturday, the astronauts traveled for 19 hours before arriving at the International Space Station. Then Hurley had an important task to do: capture the American flag left by the last space shuttle crew. He showed off the flag Monday during a news conference.

“Chris (Cassidy) had it right on the hatch where we left it nine years ago, and it’s right here," Hurley said, holding the flag. "And I think he’s got a note: ‘Do not forget to take with Crew Dragon.’”

Hurley was on that final shuttle mission in 2011. They left the flag, which had also been flown on the first shuttle mission, as a token to be collected when the next crew launched on a rocket from U.S. soil.

Now, nine years later, it will be taken home on the first flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon, which has been named Endeavour. Behnken and Hurley could spend one to four months on the space station before landing off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.