NASA and SpaceX Crews Retrieve Astronauts After Splashdown

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to Earth from the International Space Station in a successful splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida, on Sunday, August 2, according to SpaceX.

Behnken and Hurley were crew members on SpaceX’s first ever manned mission, Crew Dragon, and the first NASA astronauts sent to space in a commercially built and operated spacecraft, according to NASA.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 30, marking the first time American astronauts were launched into space from US soil in nearly a decade.

News reports said Sunday’s event was the first splashdown in 45 years.

These videos show NASA and SpaceX crews pulling the Dragon Endeavour from the water and scanning the capsule for poisonous fumes and vapor before opening the hatch to release the astronauts inside. Credit: NASA via Storyful