After a fiery plummet through Earth’s atmosphere, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship splashed into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley tucked safely inside.
The landing completed the first crewed commercial spaceflight mission in history; the Crew Dragon launched Behnken and Hurley toward the International Space Station on May 30. They stayed there for two months before undertaking the risky return trip.
After landing, the capsule bobbed in the ocean for about 15 minutes as professional recovery boats sped to retrieve the astronauts — but they weren’t alone on the water.
The landing site off the coast of Pensacola, Florida drew a crowd of onlookers in their own boats. Some got very close to the spaceship, including a boat flying a Trump flag that sped in front of NASA’s live feed camera.
“Maybe next time we shouldn’t announce our landing zone,” SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said during NASA’s live feed of the landing.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a briefing shortly after the splashdown that the crowd of boats “was not what we were anticipating.”
The US Coast Guard had cleared the area ahead of the landing, Bridenstine explained, but after the capsule splashed down, “the boats just made a beeline for it,” he said. “We need to do a better job next time for sure.”… (Read more)
.@USCG statement on boaters surrounding @SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule after splashdown: "numerous boaters ignored the Coast Guard crews’ requests and decided to encroach the area, putting themselves and those involved in the operation in potential danger." pic.twitter.com/nwXuykhjvu
— Miles Doran (@MilesDoran) August 3, 2020
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