SpaceX Splashdown Today

Reminder ...

Don’t know who wants to see it but SpaceX Astronauts that went to the International Space Station are due back this afternoon around 1:45pm in the Gulf of Mexico ...

Spashdown? Or did Musk create some new way of landing the pod?

HMP said:

Spashdown? Or did Musk create some new way of landing the pod?

Click to expand...

Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, a ship will be nearby and will use a helo to bring them back to the mainland.

First time since 1975 that an American spacecraft will have landed via splashdown.

well, i saw both (in orbit) last night as they passed over around 10:15PMEDT.
the ISS was very bright, and Dragon was almost invisible.
here's the site i use:
heavens-above.com

NCFubar said:

Reminder ...

Don’t know who wants to see it but SpaceX Astronauts that went to the International Space Station are due back this afternoon around 1:45pm in the Gulf of Mexico ...

Click to expand...

I just turned it on. They said 11:48a Pacific, so maybe the 1:45p was Central for Pensacola.

They have 2 recovery ships. One is in port in Jacksonville, FL due to the storm and the other, Go Navigator, left Pensacola this morning headed south-southwest.

Looking at the recovery crew is kinda strange compared to what I remember from Apollo ones ... the number of crew working it is like 1/10th that of Apollo missions when seemed like a task force was required. Musk and Co sure seem to be handling as well ... if now better with way less effort.

Limited budget focuses your attention on necessity and efficiency. Plus, they don’t get to use an aircraft carrier as their recovery ship :-/