'Sounded like a beast': Astronauts recall SpaceX Dragon's return to Earth
The astronauts on SpaceX's first crew flight said Tuesday that their Dragon capsule "came alive" and "sounded like a beast" as it descended through the atmosphere to a smooth splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Two days after returning from the International Space Station, NASA's Bob Behnken described in vivid detail their wild ride home. SpaceX had provided Behnken and Doug Hurley video and audio of previous splashdowns, so they wouldn't be startled during the test flight.
"Once we descended a little bit into the atmosphere, the Dragon really, it came alive, " Behnken said from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The thrusters that keep the capsule on track were firing almost continuously, he said.
"It doesn't sound like a machine, it sounds like an animal coming through the atmosphere, with all the puffs that are happening from the thrusters and the atmospheric noise," Behnken said.
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