Return Of Two NASA-SpaceX Astronauts From Outer Space

Two astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley (Twitter @NASA)

JAKARTA - Two astronauts from the American Space Agency (NASA) have safely arrived on Earth. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley rolled off the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday and returned home to Earth in a SpaceX Crew Dragon (Demo-2) in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.

Previously, these crews broke away from the USD 150 billion (US) ISS, where they spent 63 days with all their scientific research. Capsule Demo-2 easily survived the hot temperatures of the Earth's atmosphere 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. This is also the first US landing in 45 years.

"Thank you for doing the most difficult and most important part of human space. Sending us into orbit and bringing us home safely. Thanks again to Endeavor (nicknamed Demo-2) a fine ship," Behnken said before leaving the plane. space as reported CNN International, Monday 3 August.

Before long, the message was answered by the SpaceX crew controlling the Demo-2 capsule at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, "Thank you, Bob for these wonderful words. What an honor and pleasure to work with you," of the entire SpaceX team. "

Indeed, SpaceX designed the spacecraft and the flight yesterday was a cooperation contract with the NASA Commercial Crew Program. With a total funding of about 2.7 billion US dollars to help SpaceX develop new spacecraft for future missions.

With the completion of Demo-2, SpaceX has ended the hiatus of crewed spaceflight in the US. The company is also reviving NASA's ability to reach the ISS, with the goal of sending humans back to the Moon or Mars at a later date.

"We don't want to buy, own, and operate hardware like we used to. We want to be one of the many customers in a very powerful commercial market in low Earth orbit," said NASA spokesman Jim Bridenstine.

Another Dragon spacecraft is already preparing to launch its next mission, dubbed Crew-1, which will take four astronauts to the ISS. The NASA astronauts included Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Japanese Soichi Noguchi.

In the future SpaceX plans to upgrade the spacecraft Behnken and Hurley was carrying for the next flight in 2021. Where later on the next flight, Space X will bring Megan McArthur, Behnken's wife along with Shane Kimbrough from NASA, Akihiko Hoshide with the JAXA space agency. Japan and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

"This is the next era in human spaceflight, where NASA is a customer. We want to be a strong customer, we want to be a great partner. But we don't want to be the only one operating with humans in space," added Bridenstine.

Today, history was made. @ AstroBehnken & @Astro_Doug returned to Earth aboard @ SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavor, completing their #LaunchAmerica @Commercial_Crew mission and ushering in a new era of human spaceflight: https://t.co/uPa3srrXp4 pic.twitter .com / sP7sxPQXbf

- NASA (@NASA) August 3, 2020

Next Mission

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk thought that this was absolutely impossible when he founded a rocket company in 2002. With a mission to fly people to and from outer space.

"Frankly, I doubt us too. I think we probably when starting SpaceX only had a 10 percent chance of reaching orbit. So for those who doubted us, I think you're probably right," Musk said.

With the completion of Demo-2, SpaceX has also gained operational experience flying people to and from outer space for the first time. That's especially important for Musk, who has big plans on SpaceX.

The plan includes flying tourists into space in February. SpaceX also announced that it had sold four seats through a space tourism company called Space Adventures.

Later in March, news emerged that the company Axiom Space, led in part by the former ISS mission manager at NASA, had also signed a deal with SpaceX. Even actor Tom Cruise plans to ride Dragon to make a film on the ISS.

That wasn't Musk's main mission, however, his real goal was to launch people around the moon, then move on to building cities on Mars. Musk actually had ambitions of placing 1 million settlers on the Red Planet.