SpaceX’s new crew capsule on Friday returned from the International Space Station to an old-fashioned splashdown in the Atlantic, successfully ending a test flight that could lead to astronaut rides later this year.
The Dragon capsule undocked from the orbiting lab early on Friday. Six hours later, the capsule carrying a test dummy parachuted into the ocean off the Florida coast.
It was the final hurdle for the six-day demo, a critical prelude to SpaceX’s first flight with astronauts as early as summer.
Photo: Reuters / NASA
While improvements still need to be made, the company aims to fly NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the next test flight.
SpaceX employees cheered and applauded at company headquarters near Los Angeles when the Dragon’s red-and-white parachutes popped open. NASA televised the descent live from a plane. The crowd went wild once the capsule splashed down and was seen floating upright.
“Just amazing. I can’t believe how well the whole mission has gone” with all major milestones met, SpaceX director of crew mission management Benji Reed said.
It was the first time in 50 years that a capsule designed for astronauts returned from space by plopping into the Atlantic. Apollo 9 — which orbited Earth in preparation for the moon landings — splashed down near the Bahamas on March 13, 1969.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was ecstatic following splashdown.
All this is “leading to a day where we are launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” he said.
A pair of recovery ships was stationed in the Atlantic well before splashdown and quickly moved in, lifting the capsule from the water within an hour. The capsule was expected at Port Canaveral yesterday night. Splashdowns are to occur much closer to shore once astronauts start flying.
Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, part of the recovery team, said that the capsule had brown scorch marks from top to bottom, but otherwise looked fine.
Next up is Boeing.
Boeing plans to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as next month and with astronauts possibly in August. The Starliner is designed to land on land in the US southwest.
SpaceX acknowledged that some capsule systems need more work before Behnken and Hurley climb aboard for liftoff, as early as July.
Vibration, acoustic and other measurements were taken throughout the completed flight, not only of the capsule, but also the mannequin.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese