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Two U.S. astronauts crashed when the first commercial crew mission to the International Space Station returned to Earth.
The SpaceX Dragon Capsule featuring Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken landed in the Gulf of Mexico just south of Pensacola on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
A recovery team stepped in to pick up the red and extrude the men.
The touchdown marks the first U.S. water crew command since the last launch of an Apollo command module 45 years ago.
The Hurley and Behnken capsule hit the water at about 14:48 EDT (19:48 BST; 18:48 GMT).
Private boats that came close to the Dragon were asked to leave at least because of concerns about dangerous chemicals coming out of the capsule’s propulsion system.
Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said the presence of the boats “was not what we expected”.
“What is not common is passing by by approaching the close range of cars with nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere; that is not something that is good,” he said. “And we need to make sure we warn people not to get too close to the spaceship in the future.”
Photos of the boats were shared on social media.
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“It is truly our honor and privilege,” Hurley said when the astronauts returned home.
“On behalf of the SpaceX and Nasa teams, welcome back to Planet Earth. Thanks for flying SpaceX,” SpaceX mission management responded.
President Donald Trump – who attended the launch of the capsule on May 30 – assassinated the safe return.
“Thank you so much to everyone!” he tweeted. “Great that NASA astronauts are returning to Earth after a very successful two-month mission.”
Save the government billions
The successful completion of the crew’s mission ushers in a new era for the US space agency.
All of their human transport needs just above Earth will be purchased in the future from private companies such as SpaceX.
The government agency says that contracting service providers in this way saves billions of dollars that can be diverted to get astronauts to the Moon, as part of their Artemis program, and to Mars.
The Dragon capsule launched to the space station at the end of May on a Falcon 9 rocket, also supplied by SpaceX.
The mission of Hurley and Behnken served as an end-to-end demonstration of the astronaut “taxi service” the company, owned by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, will from now on sell to Nasa.
The Boeing corporation is also developing a crew capsule solution, but has had to delay its introduction after encountering software issues on its Starliner car.
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NASA / Bill Ingalls
The sight of the car’s four main parachutes drifting across the Gulf of Mexico was confirmation that the spaceship had survived its fiery origin through the atmosphere.
The parachutes then slowed the capsule from about 350 mph (560 km / h) to about 15 mph (7 m / s) during splashdown.
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NASA / Bill Ingalls
Rigging was used to lift the capsule out of the water and through to the recovery vessel. Technicians checked “residual vapors” around the spacecraft before the breakfast was opened.
The men were checked by medical personnel before being flown by helicopter to the coast.
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The astronauts’ Dragon capsule launched in late May to the space station on a Falcon 9 rocket, also supplied by SpaceX.
It will now be refurbished to fly again next year.
Mr. Bridenstine praised the efforts of everyone involved in the mission of Hurley and Behnken, and then spoke about the shift in philosophy of his agency.
“We do not want to buy, own and operate the hardware as we once were,” he said.
“We want to be one customer of many customers in a very robust commercial marketplace in low-Earth orbit. But we also want to have different providers competing against each other for cost and innovation and security, and this virtuous cycle really makes economic development and capacity. “
Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, added: “Today is a great day. We need to celebrate what we have all achieved here, bring Bob and Doug back, but we also need to think of this as a springboard to do even harder things with the Artemis program. And then of course go on to Mars. “
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