Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will return to Earth in early August, capping the first crewed mission from U.S. soil in nearly a decade.
The two men will return to Earth via a capsule that is scheduled to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 2, a NASA spokesman said on Friday. They launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on May 30 before docking with the International Space Station orbiting 250 miles above Earth.
Although SpaceX became the first private company commissioned by NASA to send a rocket into orbit, Chicago-based jetliner Boeing will join the new space race next year when it plans to launch its CST-100 Starliner with astronauts on board.
NASA has helped boost the private space enterprises with more than $8 billion in funding spread between SpaceX and Boeing. American astronauts have relied on Russian flights to reach the ISS, and the SpaceX mission was the first launch from the United States since 2011.
A NASA representative said the date of the two men’s return could shift depending on weather conditions in early August. A safe capsule landing in the Atlantic Ocean will pave the way for an increase in missions to the ISS.
