‘Thanks For Flying SpaceX’: Hopes Up For Private Space Travel As Capsule Lands Safely On Earth
New York: Tesla co-founder Elon Musk owned SpaceX landed its capsule in the Gulf of Mexico successfully on Sunday. Here are the top points about the mission:
This is the first time a private company has helped NASA carry out a space mission. “We are entering a new era of human spaceflight, where NASA is no longer the purchaser, owner and operator of all the hardware,” said NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This is really just the beginning; we are starting the journey of bringing people regularly to and from low Earth orbit, on to the Moon, and then ultimately on to Mars,” added Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX.
This was America’s first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade.
This was the first water landing after 45 years.
The two astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, returned after two months. It took 18 hours for the return journey from the International Space Station.
“On behalf of the NASA and SpaceX teams, welcome back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX,” replied SpaceX’s Mike Heiman, to laughter in the control room.
Temperatures reached as high as 3500 degrees Fahrenheit as the capsule plunged into the atmosphere at a speed of around 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). This caused an expected communication blackout for a brief time. The parachutes got the speed down to a mere 15 mph as it hit the Gulf of Mexico water.
The hatch opening was slightly delayed as there was a rocket fuel vapour leak.
The astronauts exited the capsule after an hour of landing. They headed for the shore on a helicopter from where they would be taken to Houston on a plane.
In recent years, US had to rely on Russia for rides to space since the last Space Shuttle flew in 2011.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX was founded in 2002 but has gone ahead of Boeing, its main competitor for commercial space travel.
