NASA, SpaceX all set for return of astronauts from International Space Station to Earth

Mangalore Today News Network

Washington, Aug 01, 2020: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX teams are all set to bring NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on August 2.

 

"Conditions remain “Go” at several of the needed target locations for splashdown and recovery off the Florida coast on Sunday aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft," said NASA on Saturday (August 1, 2020).

They added, "Teams continue to closely monitor Hurricane Isaias and evaluate impacts to the landing sites in the Gulf of Mexico along the Florida Panhandle. Teams have several weather decision milestones ahead of and after undocking to adjust the splashdown location and time based on the forecasted conditions for recovery."

SpaceX and NASA are targeting 7:34 PM EDT on August 1 (5:04 AM IST on August 2) for Crew Dragon to autonomously undock from the Space Station with the two astronauts aboard the spacecraft.

After almost 8 hours, the Dragon is slated for splash down at one of seven targeted water landing sites off the coast of Florida at 2:42 PM EDT on August 2 (12:12 am IST on August 3).

The homecoming of Douglas and Robert after more than two months at the ISS will mark the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the space station.

Earlier on May 30, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon’s second demonstration (Demo-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Crew Dragon autonomously docked to the ISS on May 31.

NASA stated that once the Demo-2 mission is complete and the SpaceX and NASA teams have reviewed all the data for certification, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi will fly on Dragon’s first six-month operational mission (Crew-1) scheduled for late September.


courtesy: Zeenews