NASA astronauts splash down after journey home aboard SpaceX capsule

U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX's new Crew Dragon, splashed down in the capsule in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, August 2 after a two-month voyage that was NASA's first crewed mission from home soil in nine years.

Behnken and Hurley undocked from the station on Saturday and returned home to land in calm waters off Florida's Pensacola coast on schedule at 2:48 p.m. ET following a 21-hour overnight journey aboard Crew Dragon "Endeavor." The successful splashdown, the first of its kind by NASA in 45 years, was a final key test of whether Elon Musk's spacecraft can transport astronauts to and from orbit - a feat no private company has accomplished before.

Spectators in private boats surrounded the splashdown site dozens of miles from shore as SpaceX and NASA recovery teams used a crane to hoist the spacecraft out of the water and onto a boat. At one point, a boat bearing a Trump flag was seen passing by the capsule. "I'm just proud to be a small part of this whole effort to get a company and people to and from the space station," Hurley said, giving a thumbs up as he was wheeled out of the spacecraft on a stretcher - a normal procedure as astronauts adjust to Earth's gravity.

For the return sequence, on-board thrusters and two sets of parachutes worked autonomously to slow the acorn-shaped capsule, bringing Behnken and Hurley's speed of 17,500 miles per hour in orbit down to 350 mph upon atmospheric reentry, and eventually 15 mph at splashdown. During reentry to Earth's atmosphere, the capsule's outer shell withstood temperatures as high as 3,500 Fahrenheit while Behnken and Hurley, wearing SpaceX's white flight suits strapped inside the cabin, experienced 85 Fahrenheit.

The pair were due to undergo medical checks onshore in Pensacola ahead of a flight to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The landmark mission, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on May 31, marked the first time the U.S. space agency launched humans from American soil since its shuttle program retired in 2011. Since then the United States has relied on Russia's space program to launch its astronauts to the space station."Great to have NASA Astronauts return to Earth after very successful two month mission," President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter. "Thank you to all!"