The Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida, completing the first manned flight to the International Space Station.
It touched the water at the estimated 21:48 Moscow time.
Earlier, the rescue ship Go Navigator has already headed for the splashdown area. Astronauts will be able to leave the capsule after experts inspect it and lift it aboard.
As long as they stay inside. The crew’s exit was delayed due to the increased content of dinitrogen tetroxide on the surface of the capsule.
“In large quantities, it can be toxic, therefore, out of caution, we are expecting a decrease in indicators,” said the host of NASA broadcast.
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who returned from the ISS, will then undergo a medical examination. The astronauts will be transported first to a military base on the Florida coast and then transported to Houston. The crew members have already said that they are doing well. US President Donald Trump congratulated them on their return to Earth.
The spacecraft created by SpaceX went to the ISS in late May, the astronauts spent two months in orbit. Following unmanned and manned test flights, NASA is certifying the Crew Dragon for on-site missions, the first of which is scheduled for September.
Crew Dragon became the first private manned spacecraft. Now the United States will be able to regain its ability to independently conduct manned space flights: over the past nine years, Americans have been delivered to the ISS by Soyuz spacecraft for a fee. The head of the press service of Roscosmos, Vladimir Ustimenko, previously noted that in the future, in the framework of cooperation with NASA, Russian cosmonauts may start flying on the American ships Crew Dragon and Starliner, and American astronauts will continue to travel to the ISS on Russian ships in exchange.
