CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX celebrated another milestone in human space travel Friday after the capsule that is supposed to carry astronauts one day returned to Earth.
The capsule is reentered Earth’s atmosphere and splash downed into the Atlantic Ocean east of Cape Canaveral at 8:45 a.m. Friday.
This ends a test mission that started six days ago and proved a major milestone to NASA.
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A human mannequin was on board, collecting data to make sure conditions in the capsule were safe enough for real astronauts.
Friday morning marked the first time in 50-years that a capsule capable of carrying astronauts has splashed down from space into the water off of Florida’s space coast.
In the coming weeks there will be a number of performance reviews of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX now prepares for its next milestone, an inflight abort test for the Crew Dragon this summer.
All of these milestones are setting the stage for a manned launch before the year's end.
Right on time, Spacex's Crew Dragon splashed down off the coast of Cape Canaveral, completing its unmanned test flight to the International Space Station.
NASA will need to validate the Crew Dragon's performance before SpaceX's manned test flight, Demo-2, which is currently targeted for July.
“I don't think we saw really anything in the mission so far, we've got to do the data reviews, that would preclude us from having the manned mission later this year,” said Steve Stitch, deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The Demo-2 mission will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the spacecraft to certify Crew Dragon for routine operational missions.
Hurley piloted Atlantis for the final space shuttle mission.
Miss the landing? You can rewatch it here:
WATCH LIVE: SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule set to splash down off coast of Cape CanaveralWATCH LIVE: After its historic launch last week, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is scheduled to reenter Earth's atmosphere and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral any minute. READ MORE: https://at.wftv.com/2Cd1W2e
Posted by WFTV Channel 9 on Friday, March 8, 2019
Splashdown! As seen on @WFTV with @RAsaWFTV and @BShieldsWFTV the @SpaceX Dragon Capsule that will soon carry astronauts back into space just returned from what appears to have been a successful journey. #missionaccomplished #spacex pic.twitter.com/ssxxXTs8Aw
— greg warmoth wftv (@GWarmothWFTV) March 8, 2019
Mission successful! This is a BIG deal. We could be sending astronauts, from our soil, back to space - maybe as soon as later this year! https://t.co/zcaVEYi64x
— Brian Shields (@BrianWFTV) March 8, 2019
Splashdown success 🐉! At 8:45 a.m. EST @spacex's #CrewDragon splashed-down in the Atlantic Ocean after a five-day stay at the @space_station. More: https://t.co/bOB3gSr3Os pic.twitter.com/WAqmkGQieC
— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) March 8, 2019
The @SpaceX #CrewDragon 🐉 successfully undocked from the @Space_Station at 2:32 a.m. EST. Tune in at 7:30 a.m. EST for live de-orbit and splashdown coverage. More info: https://t.co/bOB3gS9spS pic.twitter.com/e7dPhpAkUu
— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) March 8, 2019
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