SpaceX makes first nighttime splashdown
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A SPACEX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts back to Earth splashed down off Florida early yesterday in NASA’s first nighttime ocean landing in more than 50 years.
The crew reported they were feeling well after their arrival back on Earth following a nearly six-month mission aboard the International Space Station, NASA said.
The capsule splashed down at 2:56am in the dark in the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City after a six-and-a-half-hour flight from the ISS, night-vision images relayed by NASA’s WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft showed.
Teams aboard the Go Navigator recovery ship retrieved the capsule and hoisted it onto the deck about half an hour later. It was the first nighttime splashdown for NASA since the crew of Apollo 8 hit the Pacific Ocean on December 27, 1968.
Commander Michael Hopkins was the first to emerge after the hatch was opened, doing a little jig as he set foot on deck, followed shortly after by fellow NASA astronaut Victor Glover.
“On behalf of Crew-1 and our families, we just want to say thank you ... It’s amazing what can be accomplished when people come together. Y’all are changing the world. Congratulations. It’s great to be back,” Hopkins said in a NASA tweet.
NASA astronaut Shannon Walker and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi were the other two aboard.
The four astronauts went to space last November as the crew on the first fully operational mission to the International Space Station aboard a vehicle made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has become NASA’s favored commercial transportation partner. They traveled 114.6 million kilometers during their 168 days in orbit (including 167 days aboard the space station), NASA said.
After medical checks, the four astronauts will be flown by helicopter to Pensacola to board a plane for Houston to be reunited with their friends and family, NASA said.
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