Last Updated on July 28, 2020, 9:21 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Around two months have gone since a Crew Dragon spacecraft which was carrying two astronauts took off from the Earth and delivered two NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into orbit.
Now, it is their time to come back home.
So far, the test flight which is built by SpaceX has gone almost flawlessly since its launch on May 30.
The flight was named Endeavour by the crew; the spaceship flew smoothly on the way to the International Space Station, where it docked itself without incident.
During the past two months, the solar panels of the spacecraft have held up well.
And while on orbit, Behnken and Hurley, who performed four spacewalks to help in the installation of new batteries outside the station, contributed to the mission of NASA.
Crew Dragon would perform two short burns to separate itself from the station, and then there would be four slightly longer burns for moving Endeavour farther away from the space station and start its journey back home.
During this time, SpaceX and NASA would continue monitoring the weather in the splashdown location, and if conditions worsen, a decision would be made to wait for 24 to 48 hours for another landing attempt.
Now, NASA would like the crew of the Endeavour to come home and complete the main, key objective of the test flight, which is to splash down safely in the ocean.
This splashdown is scheduled for the Sunday afternoon, August 2.
Final target time and date would be selected on Wednesday, during the “Return Flight Readiness Review,” which would consider both the weather and the health of the spacecraft.
There are seven potential splashdown zones for Dragon around the state of Florida, in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
Among the criteria for weather are winds less than 16.5km/hour, calm seas, and a low probability of rainfall.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
