statement<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\nDuring the launch last May, as soon as the Crew Dragon ascended into space, the spacecraft was commanded from SpaceX\u2019s mission control center in Hawthorne, California.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of all SpaceX employees, thank you to NASA for the opportunity to return human spaceflight to the United States by flying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley,\u201d said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all appreciate their dedication to this mission and helping us start the journey towards carrying people regularly to low Earth orbit and on to the Moon and Mars. And I really hope they enjoyed the ride!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Why is the Demo-2 test flight mission important?<\/h2>\n
The SpaceX Demo-2 mission is the final major test before NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program certifies Crew Dragon for operational, long-duration missions to the space station.<\/p>\n
As SpaceX\u2019s final test flight, it will validate all aspects of the crew transportation system including the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft, the Falcon 9 rocket, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown, and recovery operations.<\/p>\n
The Crew Dragon Endeavour will return back to SpaceX\u2019s Dragon Lair in Florida for inspection and processing.<\/p>\n
Teams will examine the Space-X capsule spacecraft\u2019s data and performance from throughout the test flight.<\/p>\n
The completion of Demo-2 and the review of the mission and spacecraft will pave the way for NASA to certify SpaceX\u2019s crew transportation system for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station.<\/p>\n
SpaceX is readying the hardware for the first rotational mission, called Crew-1, later this year.<\/p>\n
This mission would occur after the NASA certification, which is expected to take about six weeks.<\/p>\n
What has been achieved by the mission?<\/h2>\n
U.S. astronauts Behnken and Hurley participated in various scientific experiments, spacewalks, and public engagement during their 62 days aboard the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
Both astronauts of the SpaceX capsule also spent 64 days in orbit, completed 1,024 orbits around Earth, and traveled 27,147,284 statute miles.<\/p>\n
NASA also reported that the duo contributed more than 100 hours in supporting the orbiting laboratory\u2019s investigations.<\/p>\n
Hurley also conducted the Droplet Formation Study inside of the Microgravity Science Glovebox which evaluates water droplet formation and water flow.<\/p>\n
He also conducted the Capillary Structures investigation, which studies the use of different structures and containers to manage fluids and gases.<\/p>\n
Hurley and Behnken also worked on numerous sample switch-outs for the Electrolysis Measurement experiment, which looks at bubbles created using electrolysis and has implications for numerous electrochemical reactions and devices.<\/p>\n
Both crew members also contributed images to the\u00a0Crew Earth Observations\u00a0study.<\/p>\n
CEO images help record how our planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes to natural dynamic events.<\/p>\n
Behnken conducted four spacewalks while onboard the space station with Expedition 63 Commander and NASA colleague Chris Cassidy.<\/p>\n
The duo also upgraded two power channels on the far starboard side of the station\u2019s truss with new lithium-ion batteries among other maintenance activities at the ISS.<\/p>\n
\nRead More: NASA sends Perseverance rover on Mars mission to find \u2018ancient life\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley splashed down onboard a SpaceX capsule in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday (August 2). The duo made history as the first crew in a commercially built and operated spacecraft. After a two-month stint at the International Space Station, the two astronauts completed a test flight that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"NASA Astronauts Make History with SpaceX Capsule Splashdown","_seopress_titles_desc":"NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, splashed down onboard a SpaceX capsule in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday (August 2).","_seopress_robots_index":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,174],"tags":[150,145,149],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":719,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions\/719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}