Spending shorter than a week in space, the Crew Dragon docked in the Atlantic Ocean
Following successful completion of the maiden journey, SpaceX’ crewless Crew Dragon command capsule returned to earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean 370 km from the coast of Cape Carnival, Florida. The capsule successfully landed at 8:45 a.m. ET on 8th Friday, 2019. This craft is designed to take astronauts to the international space station in the future, which would be the first time American astronauts entering space in a commercial ship. Two recovery boats were ready to take the capsule were situated a few nautical miles away from the capsule. They will take the Crew Dragon to Go searcher recovery vessel and then to Port Carnival.
Demo-1 contained a test dummy named ‘Ripley’ which was equipped with sensors to collect the biometric data. The capsule autonomously docked at a space station and spent less than a week in the space, before returning to earth. NASA has been using Russia’s Soyuz rockets to transport astronauts into space ever since they ended the shuttle program in 2011. Demo-1 spacecraft names itself the first spacecraft designed for humans to be landed in the Atlantic Ocean first time since March 1969.
SpaceX is now working on the Demo-2 mission, which will carry NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in a crewed flight test. The NASA Mike Hopkins, a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and a current NASA astronaut, said he is very anxious on what Ripley’s results say when they take it to the recovery vehicle. This is indeed a monumental moment for SpaceX with the triumphant return of spacecraft. Of course, Ripley’s results will tell us a complete story on how it performed and whether or not it’s safe for a human-crewed mission. SpaceX is working on some exciting projects, yet the human-crewed mission remains a special mission.
