There are other complications. The capsule can tip over in the water. The earlier capsules had balloons and inflatable collars to prevent that. One of the first Mercury capsules sank after a hatch had accidentally burst. The astronaut with a full space suit in the water could be saved just in time.
And then there is the risk of sharks getting close, says Van der Lande. “In those earlier landings, you always saw a special liquid against the sharks in the water around the capsule.” Behnken and Hurley don’t have to worry about that tonight; the capsule is hoisted with astronauts on the deck of a salvage ship. The hatch opens only on board the ship.
Space tourism
In addition to SpaceX, Boeing is also developing a new space capsule for transporting astronauts to the ISS, the CST-100 Starliner. After a trip in space, it does not land in the sea, but on a sandy plain in the state of New Mexico.
In the future, all manned landings with commercial spaceships will take place on land, Van der Lande expects. Also that of SpaceX. “This Crew Dragon is an intermediate step. These companies also want to focus on space tourism and if you want to make that commercially interesting, you do not want that hassle with salvage ships and boats. Then you want a kind of regular service where a returned spaceship is returned as soon as possible. can go into space. “
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