The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the crew fell to Earth off the coast of Florida Sunday morning.
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Washington, AS:
Four astronauts who just returned from the International Space Station on Thursday described their return to Earth’s atmosphere and scattered oceans after more than 160 days in space.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that carried the crew to Earth fell from Florida on Sunday morning in NASA’s first yesterday landing in the ocean in more than 50 years.
American Victor Glover, one of the astronauts in a group called Crew-1, said.
It is the first regular mission to take on and then return from the International Space Station in a spacecraft built by billionaire Elon Musk.
“I expected the event to be so dynamic – and very challenging – that the actual event was, in my opinion, a little smaller than I expected, so it’s all fun,” said Glover.
The weight of the acceleration is concentrated in the chest, making it difficult to breathe.
But then he said, “Launching and entry is a unique experience.”
NASA contracted SpaceX to launch astronauts into space from US soil, something that has been impossible since 2011 with the end of the space shuttle program.
From then on, NASA has had to pay for flights to the International Space Station aboard the Russian ship Soyuz, which landed on the ground.
“It’s great getting into the water because none of us really know what to expect, but I think it feels a little gentler than landing on Earth,” said American astronaut Shannon Walker.
He said, “You spend less time under the umbrella on the Dragon than you spend under the Soyuz umbrella.”
Soon, space “tourists” – civilians who are not professional astronauts – will replace them in Naga.
American astronaut Mike Hopkins believes that space tourists will be able to cope with the difficult return flight.
He said that once civilians undergo some centrifuge training, “it won’t be entirely unique to them.”
Japanese astronaut Soishi Noguchi said the landing was very smooth.
“The effect is minimal, and after that it spreads. We feel the waves, we go back to the water planet.
“This feels amazing.”
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by the NDTV crew and published from a shared feed.)
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