US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News

Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts returns to Earth

It made an Atlantic splashdown off Florida’s coast, NASA reported

NEW YORK, May 2. /TASS/. Space X’s Crew Dragon manned spacecraft with the Crew-1 mission aboard has come back to Earth, successfully making an Atlantic splashdown off Florida’s coast, NASA reported.

The Resilience spacecraft with four astronauts - NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi - splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, at 2:56 a.m. EDT (09:56 a.m.) after 168 days in space.

SpaceX’s Starship prototype lands successfully during trials in Texas

Starship SN15 to climb to an altitude of about 10 kilometers, and then descended to a landing pad next to the launch site

NEW YORK CITY, May 6. /TASS/. US’ SpaceX successfully landed the Starship spacecraft, intended for the use in a Mars mission, according to a live broadcast by SpaceX on Wednesday.

Starship SN15 took off from Boca Chica, Texas, to climb to an altitude of about 10 kilometers, and then descended to a landing pad next to the launch site. "Starship landing normal!," Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk wrote on his Twitter account.

Starship’s previous test launch on March 30 ended in its explosion during the landing. The spacecraft prototypes also exploded while landing during two earlier trials in February and December 2020. In early March, Starship exploded several minutes after vertical landing.

The Starship multiple-use spacecraft is intended for missions to Mars and can carry up to 100 people. Musk speculated earlier that the first trial flight might take place on Earth orbit this year, adding that these plans could be reviewed.