Approximately halfway through their historic mission, a pair of NASA astronauts are preparing for their return

They have been there for about a month, floating on the International Space Station, monitoring their journey home.

One, NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, has taken a couple of spacewalks. The other, Doug Hurley, has turned his Twitter feed into an amazing exhibition of Earth art photography.

Both have been monitoring the health of the Dragon spacecraft that transported them to the station and, in a few weeks, will take them home in a dangerous second leg of their historic test mission.

On May 30, the couple became the first NASA astronauts to launch a commercial rocket at the station, hitching a vehicle into vehicles made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, not NASA.

A day after taking off from Kennedy Space Center, their Dragon spacecraft, which they called Endeavor, docked autonomously at the station, and the duo was greeted at the station by NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, as well as by Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan. Vagner

The trip marked the end of a long period of fallow launches for NASA, which had not transported humans from the United States since 2011, when the space shuttle retired.

“Certainly the highlight for Doug and me was the initial arrival at the space station, going through the hatch again and being on board after several years of working on a new spacecraft,” Behnken said in an interview from the station. week.

Since then, he has conducted two spacewalks with Cassidy, successfully replacing the batteries outside the station. During the spacewalk, they were able to see the Dragon spacecraft docked at the station, and Cassidy turned and took a photo.

“It was amazing to be able to look back and take a picture, and I think we got a good light shot,” said Behnken.

Hurley has spent quite a bit of time in the station’s dome, a small dome with six windows that offers some of the best views. As the station orbits around Earth every 90 minutes, traveling at 17,500 mph, it has captured stunning images from around the world and posted them on its Twitter account.

Here was the dust plume from the Sahara and the western Atlantic Ocean. Here were clouds rolled up like Rorschah’s ink spots over the South Pacific; Lake Urmia of Iran, clouds that frame the San Lorenzo river; the tanned expanse of the Middle East and the deep blue of the Pacific off the southern California coast.

And then on Thursday, he posted a photo of Earth transitioning from day to night, one half dark, the other light. It is a peaceful image with no indication of the stirring of the coronavirus pandemic or the social unrest that followed the death of George Floyd while in political custody.

“Look at the atmosphere!” He tweeted Hurley’s wife Karen Nyberg, a former NASA astronaut. “It is such a beautiful blue and so thin. @Astro_Doug has been taking some beautiful photos of Earth from @Space_Station. They remind me that this amazing house belongs to all of us together.”

NASA celebrated the mission as the start of a new era in human space flight, in which the private sector would play a greater role. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were at the Kennedy Space Center for the launch, and then Trump announced it in a speech as a victory for the country.

“A new era of American ambition has begun now,” he said. “Those of us who saw the spectacular and unforgettable takeoff this afternoon saw more than an act of history. We saw an act of heroism.”

The Trump campaign sought to capitalize on the launch with an ad titled “Make Space Great Again.” But the announcement was quickly criticized by Democrats, who noted that NASA’s “commercial crew” program, hiring private companies to fly its astronauts, began under the presidency of Barack Obama. Others said it violated NASA rules that prohibit the agency from endorsing “a product, service, or commercial activity.”

Nyberg, who appeared in the ad with his son, said on Twitter that he found “disturbing that a video image of me and my son is being used in political propaganda without my knowledge or consent. That is wrong.”

The announcement was abruptly withdrawn.

Now NASA and astronauts are focusing their attention on the return trip. At the moment, the space agency says the earliest Behnken and Hurley could return is August 2. If all goes well, the Dragon would undock from the station, fire its thrusters, and descend through the atmosphere.

The entire mission is a test to see how SpaceX’s Dragon capsule works, and while NASA said its rise was flawless, there are still many risks ahead.

As it sinks, the thick air will cause friction and generate enormous heat, testing the capsule’s heat shield. The spacecraft’s parachutes will then deploy to further slow the vehicle down. However, SpaceX has struggled with its parachute designs in the past.

“Parachutes are much more difficult than they appear,” Musk said in an interview with The Post before launch. “The Apollo program actually had a real morale problem with parachutes because they were so tough. They had people quitting because of how difficult parachutes were. And then you know there were almost people quitting at SpaceX because of how tough parachutes were. .I means they were sold, but, man, parachutes are difficult. “

Another risk will be landing in the ocean. American astronauts have not splashed in the water since 1975 – space shuttles landed on the ground, as did the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Behnken said he and Hurley expect to spend about an hour floating on the ocean surface before being hoisted onto the deck of a ship. SpaceX has been training extensively for the recovery mission, working to get astronauts to safety as quickly as possible, but that will also be a key test.

“I wouldn’t call it nervousness,” said Behnken. “But one of the areas that Doug and I really need to make sure we’re ready for is that if something doesn’t go as well as expected with that recovery operation and we end up in that capsule for a little bit longer.”

He added: “We need to be at the top of our game, both physically and mentally.”