Splashdown

For all the unfortunate thoughts about it being better to “keep your distance” (which might connect to my taking note of three Mars probes launching in recent days), the test flight of the Crew Dragon capsule to the space station had a scheduled return-to-Earth date, and I happened to be able to watch the streaming coverage that day, checking in for the rocket burn that would brake the capsule out of orbit. I’d started noticing during earlier coverage of the mission all of the Crew Dragon’s thrusters seemed to be in its “capsule” section proper, with the “trunk” perhaps most of all used for solar cells, which is distinct from the days of Apollo’s “service module” and suggests less is being outright thrown away.

Checking in again, I saw the parachutes opening and the capsule splashing down, something that hasn’t happened with people on board for forty-five years. These days, aircraft carriers don’t get deployed to pick spacecraft up, but the smaller vessel sent out brought the capsule on board for all that it took a while to blow the fumes away and get the hatch open. The next Crew Dragon launch with a larger crew is scheduled not that far in the future, although I’m wondering how long it’ll be until the competing capsule recovers from a rocky test flight (that, as I recall, touched down on land.)