On its way home, SpaceX Crew Dragon is expected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon is returning home.
All four of the planned departure burns for NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley’s Crew Dragon have been performed.
The astronauts will settle in for an eight-hour sleep cycle once the spacecraft is on its way back to Earth. A six-minute departure phasing burns at 1:48 in the morning while they are asleep. The Dragon Endeavour will be placed on the correct orbital course on August 2 to enable its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.
The crew’s journey back to Earth is being streamed live by NASA all night.
Tomorrow at 7:40 a.m., Behnken and Hurley will start their final day in space.
At 1:51 p.m., the Crew Dragon will split from its trunk and be jettisoned. Five minutes later, at 1:56 p.m., the deorbit burn will begin, putting the spacecraft on a course for a 2:48 p.m. splashdown.
Spaceship Endeavor Detaches from Station
At 7:35 p.m. EDT, the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft—which was carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley—undocked from the forward end of the Harmony module of the International Space Station to end a two-month mission.
Crew Dragon was able to successfully depart the orbital laboratory after only two very brief engine burns, and it is now carefully repositioning itself to into an orbit that will safely bring the astronaut crew and their cargo back to Earth.
Once liberated, Dragon Endeavour will independently carry out four departure burns to launch the spacecraft on its journey back to Earth.
The return schedule is as follows, with estimated times in EDT:
1 August
7:35 p.m. Burn 0 for departure 7:40 p.m. Burn 1 departs at 8:27 p.m. 9:14 p.m. departure burn 2. Burn 3 for departure
2 August
- 1:51 p.m. Trunk discarded
1:56 p.m. Deflation burn
2:48 p.m. Dragon Crew splashdown
Until astronauts Behnken and Hurley splash down off the coast of Florida and are rescued from the Gulf of Mexico, NASA will continue to offer live footage.
The two successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30. They then arrived at the orbiting laboratory on May 31, following a safe launch. Behnken and Hurley spent more than 100 hours supporting the orbiting laboratory’s investigations during their 63 days on board the station. They also took part in public outreach activities and supported four spacewalks with Behnken and Cassidy to replace old batteries in the station’s power grid and upgrade other station hardware.
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As fellow Expedition 63 astronauts Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner closed the hatch between Crew Dragon and the orbital laboratory at 5:37 p.m. EDT, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are now seated inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft.
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To be ready for Dragon Endeavour’s undocking and return to Earth, teams will perform routine leak checks and depressurize the vestibule, the area between the spacecraft and the station. The undocking time is 7:34 PM EDT. Crew Dragon will be detached from the station using two very tiny engine burns after the hooks holding them in place retract.
NASA is broadcasting the Dragon Endeavour’s return to Earth in real time, nonstop.
Conditions are still “Go” for Sunday, August 2’s splashdown and recovery at the primary planned location, off the coast of Pensacola, and the backup site, off the shore of Panama City.
The Dragon Crew Gets Ready to Undock
Watch live coverage of the undocking procedures for the return of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley from the International Space Station right now on NASA TV and the agency’s website.
Behnken and Hurley will be aboard Crew Dragon when it will independently undock from the space station at 7:34 p.m. EDT and fly back to Earth. At 2:48 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 2, Crew Dragon will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida after jettisoning its trunk and returning to Earth’s atmosphere, roughly 19 hours later. Pensacola is the main splashdown target.
Hurley and Behnken launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30 and arrived at the orbiting laboratory in the Crew Dragon on May 31. It provides information on the performance of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the Falcon 9 rocket, the ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown, and recovery operations. This is SpaceX’s final test mission.
Conditions at the Splashdown Site are “Go.”
Teams from NASA and SpaceX are moving forward with plans to return NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to Earth aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft after a scheduled review of the weather conditions for splashdown.
Conditions are “Go” for Sunday, August 2’s splashdown and recovery at the primary intended site off the coast of Pensacola and the backup site off the shore of Panama City in the Gulf of Mexico. Teams will keep a close eye on Hurricane Isaias and assess its effects on probable splashdown locations.
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Up until 2.5 hours before the scheduled undocking, SpaceX will keep an eye on any changes in the weather. At that point, it will decide whether to move forward with the departure. At 7:34 p.m. EDT, SpaceX and NASA will jointly recommend whether to proceed with the undocking if conditions are marginal and go beyond the acceptable standards. The decision to proceed will be made by NASA and SpaceX once the astronauts are prepared onboard Crew Dragon soon before undocking.
Live coverage of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return, the nation’s first commercially constructed and flown spacecraft to return with people from the International Space Station, will start at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday and continue through the planned splashdown at 2:41 p.m. on Sunday. After staying aboard the International Space Station for more than two months, NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test voyage will come to an end.
Hurley and Behnken launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30 and arrived at the orbiting laboratory in the Crew Dragon on May 31. It provides information on the performance of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the Falcon 9 rocket, the ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown, and recovery operations. This is SpaceX’s final test mission.
SpaceX and NASA move closer to the Crew Dragon splashdown
NASA and SpaceX teams are working to get ready for the splashdown of the Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft on August 2 off the coast of Florida, which will return NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley from the International Space Station to Earth.
After crews received a weather briefing from the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron on Friday evening, return conditions for several of the required target areas for splashdown and recovery were still “Go.” About six hours prior to docking, NASA and SpaceX will choose the primary splashdown target.
The Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft will be released from the space station at 7:34 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 1, and will splash down at 2:42 p.m. on Sunday, August 2. This will be the first time an American spacecraft that was built and operated commercially will return with astronauts from the space station.
Teams are still actively monitoring Hurricane Isaias and assessing its effects on the Florida Panhandle’s Gulf of Mexico landing locations. Before and after undocking, teams must make a number of weather-related decisions that will affect the splashdown location and time dependent on the conditions expected for recovery.
These are the times that NASA will be covering the SpaceX Demo-2 return (all Eastern):
August 1st, Saturday
The NASA TV undocking coverage for the 7:34 p.m. undocking starts at 5:15. (NASA Television will have continuous coverage from undocking to splashdown)
August 2nd, Sunday
Splashdown at 2:42 PM
5 p.m. – Post-splashdown news conference by the administrator at Johnson, including the following participants:
Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator, is a representative of the Commercial Crew Program.
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, is a representative of the NASA Astronaut Office for the International Space Station.
August 4th, Tuesday
Following are the participants in the 4:30 p.m. Demo-2 Crew News Conference from the Johnson Space Center:
astronaut Bob Behnken of NASA
Hurley and NASA astronaut Doug Hurley Behnken successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30. On May 31, they reached the orbiting laboratory. Behnken and Hurley spent more than 100 hours supporting the orbiting laboratory’s investigations during their 63 days on board the station. They also took part in public outreach activities and supported four spacewalks with Behnken and Cassidy to replace old batteries in the station’s power grid and upgrade other station hardware.
These activities are under the purview of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which has been collaborating with the American aerospace industry to send astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil for the first time since 2011. It provides information on the performance of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the Falcon 9 rocket, the ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown, and recovery operations. This is SpaceX’s final test mission.
Additionally, the demonstration mission aids NASA in approving SpaceX’s crew transportation system for routine trips bringing people to and from the space station. After receiving NASA approval, SpaceX is preparing the hardware for the first rotational flight.
The objective of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is to provide affordable, dependable, and safe access to and from the International Space Station. This may enable more time for research and raise the possibility of discovery aboard humanity’s test platform for exploration, assisting in our preparation for manned missions to the Moon and Mars.