NASA NASA SpaceX Return to Earth
The historic SpaceX NASA Crew Dragon is returning to Earth this afternoon on Sunday, August 2. The splashdown is scheduled to happen around 2:48 p.m. Eastern, but times are subject to change. Live streams from a variety of sources are included in the story below, so you can see the return from different angles.
The astronauts flying today are Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.
The Crew Dragon undocked from the International Space Station at 7:35 p.m. Eastern on August 1. The Dragon Endeavour was set on its orbital path at 1:48 a.m. Eastern on August 2, ready to splashdown off Pensacola, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico this afternoon, NASA shared.
Official SpaceX & NASA Live Streams
You can see official SpaceX and NASA live streams below. The first one is from NASA’s Official NASA TV YouTube channel. If the embedded video below does not work, you can see it here.
And next is NASA’s official live stream for the return to Earth.
Next is the official Crew Demo-2 stream from SpaceX.
And here you can see the Crew Demo-2 Mission Control Audio.
More Live Streams from News & Other Sources
More live streams from a variety of sources are included below. This test flight is an important step in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, whose goal is to ultimately provide safe transportation to and from the International Space Station. The launch is known as the Demo-2, demonstrating SpaceX’s ability to fly astronauts safely to and from the space station.
This first stream is from Everyday Astronaut. You can see the stream here if the embed below doesn’t work.
This next video is from The Washington Post.
The launch of the Crew Dragon in May was the first human flight to space from the Kennedy Space Center in nine years, NASA shared. This was also the final step before NASA certifies the Crew Dragon for long-duration missions to the space station. The Crew Dragon docked with the International Space Station after the launch.
NASA has shared what we can expect to happen today. The times below are from NASA’s press release. Hurrican Isaias is being closely monitored to see if it will have any impact on the proposed landing site.
- Five hours before the 1:51 p.m. deorbit burn, NASA will determine if conditions at the splashdown site exceed the accepted criteria.
- 1 hour and 20 minutes before splashdown, the Crew Dragon Claw Separation will take place. SpaceX will monitor conditions 30 minutes before for a final determination on splashdown location.
- The deorbit burn, slowing the craft’s forward speed, is scheduled to begin at 1:51 p.m. Eastern. (Note: SpaceX lists the deorbit burn as beginning at 1:56 p.m., and the trunk jettison happens at 1:51 p.m.)
- Splashdown is at 2:48 p.m. Eastern
- 4:30 p.m. Eastern – Post-SpaceX Crew Dragon Spashdown News Conference
READ NEXT: The latest COVID-19 deaths, cases, and updates