In collaboration NASA and SpaceX's Dragon Crew spaceship did a perfect splashdown off the coast of Florida. The Dragon crew splashed down just off the coast of Pensacola Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, Sunday August 2nd 2020. Surpassing all odds, the first ever commercial space crew landed safely while the Covid-19 crises and a hurricane raged on nearby. Many onlookers were astounded that they were able to get such a close up views as the astronauts were recovered from the capsule.
The landing celebrated the completion of the first Commercial Spaceflight when astronauts Bob Behnke and Dough Hurley were safely returned to Earth. The Dragon crew had initially docked their space ship named Endeavour at the International Space Station on May 30th. Originally launched upon a Falcon 9 rocket the SpaceX Dragon Crew stayed for two months before entering the capsule and descending back to Earth. This experimental mission was named Demo-2.
Their safe landing marks a new milestone to NASA's and SpaceX's many years of efforts to lesson the costs of space exploration and to be able to privately commercialize the Space Industry. The Hawthorne California based company SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk, who also began PayPal and Tesla Motors. SpaceX is the first privately funded company with it's sights set upon the stars, they are also the first privately owned company trusted to launch and land NASA's astronauts.
Astronauts can sometimes be overwhelmed with the transition of months of weightlessness and a lack of gravity while on the space station as they return to Earth's gravity. Consuming salt and water is one approach that has been found to be helpful and can sometimes offset the effects caused on the human body by reentering Earth's gravity.
Upon reentry to Earth's atmosphere the capsule was traveling 17,500 mph and heated up to approximately 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Drag and parachutes were used to slow the capsules reentry prior to splashdown. Precision craftsmanship showed when the capsule splashed down at roughly 15 mph safely landing the two astronauts in the Gulf. Additionally, the Crew Dragon is equipped with water ballasts that would pump water to turn the capsule upright if need be.
The once snow white space craft returned to earth as a toasty brown color from the immense heat it endured while reentering Earth's atmosphere. This event marked the countries first ever water landing since 1975. This successful landing is a celebration of NASA and SpaceX's collaborations.
Cheers,
JLC
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