The first astronauts launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company floated away from the International Space Station on Saturday in preparation for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico this afternoon.
NASA’s Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken bid farewell to the three men left behind as their SpaceX Dragon capsule undocked and headed toward a Sunday afternoon descent by parachute into the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite tropical storm Isaias’s surge toward Florida’s Atlantic shore, NASA said the weather looked favourable off the coast of Pensacola on the extreme opposite side of the state.
It will be the first splashdown for astronauts in 45 years. The last time was following the joint U.S.-Soviet mission in 1975 known as Apollo-Soyuz.
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