NASA-SpaceX crew successfully return to Earth from International Space Station
Operating autonomously, the spacecraft began its departure with a 90-minute fly-around of the space station as the crew snapped a series of survey photographs of the orbiting outpost.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavor, carrying four astronauts, approaches the International Space Station orbiting the Earth (photo credit: MIKE HOPKINS/NASA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Four astronauts strapped inside a SpaceX
Crew Dragon capsule splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico off the
Florida coast on Monday, capping a six-month NASA science mission aboard
the International Space Station and a daylong flight home.
The
Dragon vehicle, dubbed Endeavour, parachuted into the sea as planned
just after 10:30 p.m. EST on Monday (0330 GMT Tuesday), following a
fiery re-entry descent through Earth's atmosphere carried live by a NASA
webcast.
Live
thermal video imaging captured a glimpse of the capsule streaking like a
meteor through the night sky over the Gulf minutes before splashdown.
Applause was heard from the flight control center as the four main
parachutes inflated above the capsule as it drifted down toward the Gulf
surface, slowing its speed to about 15 miles per hour (24 kph) before
dropping gently into the calm sea.
"Endeavor,
on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to planet Earth," a voice from the
SpaceX flight control center in suburban Los Angeles was heard telling
the crew as a safe splashdown was confirmed.
ESA,
NASA and JAXA astronauts arrive for the boarding of the SpaceX Falcon 9
rocket with the Crew Dragon capsule, in Cape Canaveral (credit: NASA)
"It's great to be back," one of the astronauts radioed in reply.
Operating
autonomously, the spacecraft began its eight-hour return voyage earlier
in the day with a 90-minute fly-around of the space station as the crew
snapped a series of survey photographs of the orbiting outpost,
circling the globe some 250 miles (400 km) high.
The
Crew Dragon then proceeded through a series of maneuvers over the
course of the day to bring it closer to Earth and line up the capsule
for its final nighttime descent.
INTENSE RE-ENTRY HEAT
Propelled
by one last ignition of its forward rocket thrusters for a "de-orbit
burn," the capsule re-entered the atmosphere at about 17,000 miles per
hour (27,359 kph) for a free-fall toward the ocean below, during which
crew communications were lost for several minutes.
Intense
friction generated as the capsule plunges through the atmosphere sends
temperatures surrounding the outside of the vehicle soaring to 3,500
degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius). The re-entry friction also
slows the capsule's descent before parachutes are deployed.
The
astronauts' flight suits are designed to keep them cool if the cabin
warms up, while a heat shield protects the capsule from incinerating on
re-entry.
Recovery
vessels were shown headed toward the water-proof Crew Dragon as it
bobbed upright in the water. The astronauts and their capsule were
expected to be hoisted out of the sea within about an hour, NASA said.
The
crew, which spent 199 days in space during this mission, was made up of
two NASA astronauts - mission commander Shane Kimbrough, 54, and pilot
Megan McArthur, 50 - along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, 52,
and fellow mission specialist Thomas Pesquet, 43, a French engineer from
the European Space Agency.
They were lofted to orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off on April 23 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It was the third crew launched into orbit under NASA's fledgling
public-private partnership with SpaceX, the rocket company formed in
2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who also founded electric
car maker Tesla Inc.
The
returning team was designated "Crew 2" because it marks the second
"operational" space station team that NASA has launched aboard a SpaceX
capsule since resuming human spaceflights from American soil last year,
after a nine-year hiatus at the end of the U.S. space shuttle program in
2011.
The
replacement team, "Crew 3," was originally slated to fly to the space
station at the end of October, but that launch has been delayed by
weather problems and an unspecified medical issue involving one of the
four crew members.
One
irregularity confronting the returning Crew 2 was a plumbing leak
aboard the capsule that put the spacecraft's toilet out of order,
requiring the astronauts to relieve themselves in their spacesuit
undergarments if nature called during the flight home, according to NASA.
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