Crew-2 Returns to Earth After Six Months on Space Station
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts splashed down at 10:33 p.m. EST in the Gulf of Mexico after 200 days in space.
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) flew home aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour. They launched to the International Space Station on April 23 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Endeavour completed its second trip to space. The spacecraft flew NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the space station on a demonstration mission in May 2020. The astronauts returned to Earth on Aug. 2, 2020 after a mission lasting 64 days.
SpaceX will launch the Crew-3 mission on Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron and ESA astronaut Matthias Mauer will fly to ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon. The launch is scheduled for 9:03 EST.
8 responses to “Crew-2 Returns to Earth After Six Months on Space Station”
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Parachute 4 was a bit of a laggard but eventually fully inflated. Had me concerned there for a bit. I wonder what the conclusion will be on that after post flight review.
Interesting that they all exited on the stretcher. I wonder if there was an “all for one, one for all” attitude going on where one of them felt weak/light-headed and they as a group all decided to take the stretcher so as for it not to be obvious who the weak one was. Or, maybe it was just a particularly high G descent. Or maybe the lack of a toilet for many hours had something to do with it — didn’t exactly feel like walking around in front of a camera with a suit full of yuck dripping downwards (I think I just answered my own question there)
I thought it was mandatory that they do the couch thing but who knows
I wonder who will be waiting with stretchers when they land on Mars.
I am off to bed, but dealing with a problem in the sky 🙂
none of the musk dream of mars is going to happen. its aspirational and Musk will leave it to the fan boys to guide the fans…but what the next four years might bring is an operational Starship…lets hope that works
the mars stuff…is decades away
No, it isn’t. I think we will both likely live long enough to see a fair amount of “the Mars stuff” take place.
I guess I am glad you believe that. It doesnt matter that we have differing views on this. none of our views will or will not make it happen…(I guess you dont have any skin in the Musk game? do you? I dont. my stock investment thing owns some Tesla stock I dont speculate on it or trade it as a day trader…its been in the portfolio for a long time…its kind of like my Exxon and Boeing and SWA stock. its a hanger oner)
so we can both sit back on the sidelines (I guess) and either be correct or wrong and have a good time with that
I dont know if you care, but my own logic here about human spaceflight in general and planetary settlement in specific is that a while back I stopped believing in things as doable where somewhere in the progression of events the block diagram says “and then a massive miracle occurs in economics or technology”
I believe in them. its not a miracle as in the water turning into wine by devine intervention.
but it is a James Burke miracle in that “connections come together and change the world” (to use one of his phrases only slightly butchered)
its completely possible to me that one day Mars and Moon and asteroid resources are essential to the earths economy OR to a space based economy so that they can stand sort of independent. but I dont see that happening in the next 50 years unless there are some technological “miracles”. they are possible, in my view not probable.
there are some possibilities. I think that IF starship can be made into some functional system (and I view that as likely) that solar power stations might get a chance. that could be one
see what happens I am planning on another 40 at least (that would put me in the mid 90’s which is where my grandparents of at least two generations finally started to slow down I am now planning on 30 at my current employeer which would be 18 more years 🙂 fly safe
Maybe a crew of Teslabots sent along during the previous synod. 🙂
With only 3/8-G, though, getting around on Mars after three or four months in zero-G isn’t likely to be nearly the problem landing back on Earth after nearly 7 months in zero-G is.
I thought it was interesting that the MC explained that the ‘errant’ chute was just fine and that the 3 others had inflated early, and eventually that’s just what happened.