Bob and Doug Are Coming Home

From Popular Mechanics

• NASA is targeting an August 2 return date for astronauts Bob Behnken and Douglas Hurley, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on Twitter.

• Strapped into SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, the pair will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean.

• Behnken and Hurley launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on May 30.

After two months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are returning home.

The pair, packed into SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, will undock from the ISS sometime on August 1 and then splash down in the Atlantic Ocean on August 2, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted Friday. "Weather will drive the actual date," he said. "Stay tuned."

Behnken and Hurley launched from NASA's famed Launch Complex 39-A at Kennedy Space Center on May 30. The Demo-2 test flight was the first crewed flight for SpaceX and the first time astronauts had hitched a ride to the ISS on a commercial vehicle. The historic launch also marked the return of sending astronauts to space from American soil for the first time since the last shuttle mission in 2011.

It took Behnken and Hurley about 18 hours to reach the ISS after launch. During the ride, the pair ate, slept, and conducted a series of manual flight tests aboard the spacecraft. They even gave a rousing tour of the capsule and introduced the vehicle's official name: Endeavor.

Astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoli Ivanishin welcomed Behnken and Hurley aboard the ISS on June 1. They've since been busy since docking with the ISS.

Behnken has conducted two spacewalks withe Cassidy, while Hurley has taken to Twitter to share his observations, musings, and photos from 250 miles above Earth's surface. Along with engineers at SpaceX and NASA, the astronauts have been monitoring the Crew Dragon capsule throughout the mission to ensure it's still working properly.

Once the astronauts land, NASA's focus will turn to the Crew-1 Mission, which will send four astronauts to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon vehicle in September. NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Shannon Walker will crew the mission. Japan's Soichi Noguchi will also join the mission.

Crew Dragon's early August splashdown will mark the completion of Behnken and Hurley's mission. CNBC reports the duo will splashdown at an undetermined location in the Atlantic Ocean around 3 p.m..

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