Crew Dragon Demo-2 Returning

Update August 2, 2020 3:30 p.m.

They’re back.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley rode Crew Dragon Endeavour down to the Gulf of Mexico, off the Pensacola coast.

They’re on SpaceX recovery shop GO Navigator, headed back to Florida.

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley flew Crew Dragon Endeavour, C206, to the International Space Station on May 30. They’re leaving this afternoon.

I missed this morning’s farewell ceremony on the ISS. But NASA recorded it, so I’m a happy camper:

NASA’s live coverage starts in about a half-hour:

“…Live coverage of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return will begin at 5:15 p.m. and continue through the targeted splashdown at 2:41 p.m. on Sunday, the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the space station. It will wrap up NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test fligh after more than two months at the International Space Station….”
(“NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2: Teams Targeting Gulf of Mexico for Splashdown,” Marie Lewis, Commercial Crew Program, NASA (August 1, 2020))

I’m embedding the NASA Live YouTube channel after listing links to stuff I’ve been looking at lately. This sort of thing fascinates me. Your experience may vary. 😉

• NASA Live
  nasa.gov
• NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV
  YouTube
• “NASA to Provide Coverage of Astronauts’ Return from Space Station on SpaceX Commercial Crew Test Flight”
  Media Advisory, Commercial Crew, NASA (July 24, 2020)
• Space Station Research, NASA
  • “NASA Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley’s Scientific Journeys aboard the Space Station”
    (July 30, 2020)
  • “Space Station Science Highlights: Week of June 29, 2020”
    (July 2, 2020)

I had, and have, more to say about the ISS, commercial spaceflight, being human and all that.

But, happily, my number-one daughter called this afternoon. We had a good talk, I’m looking forward to our next chats about Sabaton, winged hussars, psychology-sociology-psychiatry stuff and a mess of other allegedly-related topics.

Speaking of which, here’s the usual related (more or less) posts link list:

• “Demo-2’s Rescheduled Launch”
  (May 30, 2020)
• “Another Small Step: Demo-2”
  (May 29, 2020)
• “‘One Small Step’ in a Long Journey”
  (July 20, 2019)
• “Apollo 11, 50 Years Later”
  (July 16, 2019)
• “Commercial Spaceflight: Another Step”
  (March 8, 2019)