Watch here: SpaceX Crew Dragon splashdown today
The two-man SpaceX Crew Dragon will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, August 2, 2020, completing its two-month demo mission to the International Space Station and back. The crew is expected to splash down at 18:48 UTC (2:48 p.m. ET; translate UTC to your time), with the target landing area the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. It’ll be the first splashdown in 45 years, following the joint U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. NASA TV is hosting a livestream of the return of astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley from their 63 days in space (about 1,024 orbits around Earth). When we clicked in to NASA TV this morning, they were already discussing the splashdown. Official coverage of the event on NASA TV began at about 11:25 UTC (7:25 a.m. ET).
Watch the splashdown on the video above, or go to NASA TV.
The crew had been originally intended to splash down in the Atlantic, but the location was changed due to Hurricane Isaias’ pending arrival on the east coast of Florida.
Behnken and Hurley have been in space since May 30, when they launched at the helm of the first crewed U.S. mission to orbit on a private spacecraft, part of a Space X-NASA partnership.
In this image from video made available by NASA, astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken prepare for undocking from the International Space Station, aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Saturday, August 1, 2020. Image via NASA/ AP.
Bottom line: How to watch SpaceX Crew Dragon splashdown on Sunday, August 2, 2020.