NASA astronauts return to Earth in a Space X capsule; see the landing

Landing of the Crew Dragon capsule ‘Resilience’ with the 4 astronauts

Photo: Nasa

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Four astronauts safely returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) this Sunday morning (2) in a SpaceX capsule, the Crew Dragon “Resilience”. The landing of the capsule occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, according to NASA.

The return marked the end of the crew’s first mission to the station by the Crew Dragon spacecraft, developed in partnership between NASA and Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, the agency said in a statement.

The crew – formed by Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of Jaxa (Japan’s space agency) – was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 15, 2020, propelled by a SpaceX rocket , the Falcon 9.

The return capsule was dubbed “Resilience” by the crew.

NASA astronauts return to Earth — NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, right

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The mission was part of NASA’s fledgling public-private partnership with SpaceX, the rocket company founded in 2002 by Musk, who is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc.