SpaceX Dragon Crew Splashes Down in Atlantic

After more than two months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to Earth today, parachuting through the planet’s skies in a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley splashed down at 1:48 p.m. CT

Behnken and Hurley, whose flight was the first to take place in a commercially built spacecraft, departed the International Space Station on Saturday evening.

With all eyes on Tropical Storm Isaias, which was bearing down on Florida's east coast, NASA on Saturday had declared "conditions are 'Go'" for Sunday's return. Isaias was downgraded from a hurricane Saturday.

The splashdown took place off the coast of Pensacola, where a recovery boat that departed its port at 9:20 a.m. was staged for operations. An alternate site of Panama City, also on the gulf, was at the ready, NASA said in a statement Saturday. The pair splashed down at 1:48 p.m. CT in the Gulf of Mexico—a site off the coast of the Florida Panhandle and far enough west to avoid the winds and rain of Hurricane Isaias.

The pair’s journey home concludes a history-making test flight called Demo-2, which returned crewed spaceflight capabilities to the United States after a nearly 10-year hiatus. The mission lifted off on May 30, marking the first time NASA astronauts piloted a spacecraft that’s owned and operated by a commercial company, rather than the space agency itself.

Now, with a successful round trip on the books, SpaceX will launch at least six more NASA flights to the ISS. The first of these, called Crew-1, is scheduled for late September at the earliest. On the second flight—scheduled for spring 2021—Behnken’s wife, astronaut Megan McArthur, will launch aboard the same SpaceX Dragon that he test flew.

KPGZ News - Jim Dickerson contributed to this story