Scorched SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on deck of GO Searcher recovery ship arrives into Port Canaveral, FL late evening of March 9, 2019 some 35 hours after splashdown at 8:45 a.m. EST March 8, in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 230 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida and hoisting on deck. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Ken Kremer — SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 10 March
2019


PORT CANAVERAL/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL –  Looking like a toasted marshmallow SpaceX’s scorched
Crew Dragon spacecraft positively dazzled during a dramatic return to Port Canaveral
Saturday night, March 9, basking in the glow of floodlights on the deck of the
GO Searcher recovery boat that retrieved it from the sea after Friday morning’s
picture perfect splashdown – closing out a historic six day test flight to the
International Space Station (ISS) and back from Florida’s Space Coast.


The ‘fully successful’ test flight of SpaceX’s
commercially developed Crew Dragon on its maiden mission dubbed ‘Demo-1’ paves the
way towards a resumption of human launches from American soil as soon as this
summer – and a ‘new era’ in spaceflight spurred by public-private partnerships
and investments. 


Crew Dragon and GO Searcher sailed into the mouth
of Port Canaveral at about 9:25 p.m. EST March 9 under cover of darkness accompanied
by the SpaceX naval fleet of recovery and guide ships – but several hours later
than the late afternoon arrival in daylight originally foreseen.


Go
Searcher’s arrival in Port came about 35 hours after Crew Dragon splashed down at 8:45 a.m. EST (1345 GMT) Friday,
March 8, in the Atlantic Ocean approximately
230 miles northeast of the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida – some six hours
after undocking from the forward port of the ISS Harmony module at 2:31 a.m.
EST (0731 GMT). 


NASA and SpaceX indicated the port arrival
would take place about 30 hours after ocen retrieval depending on sea states – which
were good – and a variety of other factors. 


Crew Dragon’s port entrance  brought a hearty round of loud cheers and
clapping of congratulations from the crowd of a few hundred excited spectators and
media including Space UpClose as the ship sailed past Jetty Park Pier through
the park grounds along  the narrow
channel. 


Enjoy our expanding gallery of Space UpClose imagery.

Scorched SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on deck of GO Searcher recovery ship arrives into Port Canaveral, FL late evening March 9, 2019 some 35 hours after splashdown at 8:45 a.m. EST March 8, in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 230 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida and hoisting on deck. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

It was rather difficult to see GO Searcher
under the pitch black of night conditions, but luckily for us the Crew Dragon spacecraft
itself was illuminated by flood lights on deck.

Truly it was a surreal sight of multicolored pastels
– dominated by the heliport landing pad railings outlined in striking neon green
on top of the irregular stripes of burnt orange racing vertically around Dragon’s
exterior heat shield, plus purplish headlights on Go Searchers bow and
scattered red and blue lights in addition to the ships crew in multicolored safety
and protective vests and attire.

Scorched SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on deck of GO Searcher recovery ship arrives into Port Canaveral, FL late evening March 9, 2019 some 35 hours after splashdown at 8:45 a.m. EST March 8, in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 230 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida and hoisting on deck. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Scorched SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on deck of GO Searcher recovery ship arrives into Port Canaveral, FL late evening March 9, 2019 some 35 hours after splashdown at 8:45 a.m. EST March 8, in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 230 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida and hoisting on deck. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The Crew Dragon Demo-1 test flight served as
a shakedown cruise for the next flight with a crew of two NASA astronauts aboard. 

Water reflection launch view as SpaceX Falcon 9 soars off Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:49 a.m. EST Saturday, March 2, 2019 carrying the company’s first commercially-built and operated Crew Dragon spacecraft to orbit for docking with the International Space Station (ISS) – as seen from VAB roof.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Crew Dragon is the first commercially built
American spacecraft designed to carry humans to the orbiting laboratory that
has actually docked.


The
SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner CST-100 human spacecraft are currently development under
NASA’s $6.8 Billion Commercial Crew Program  (CCP) -with the goal to once
again ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) from American
soil on American rockets to end our sole reliance on the Russian Soyuz crew
capsule for the first time since the forced shutdown of NASA’s space shuttles in
2011.


SpaceX
was awarded a $2.6 Billion contract while Boeing received $4.2 Billion. Boeing
hopes to fly its maiden unmanned Starliner mission later this spring atop a ULA
Atlas V rocket followed by a manned mission later in the year. 

Dr. Ken Kremer of Space UpClose interviewed live on BBC Breakfast TV News about the successful SpaceX Crew Dragon launch and implications for future spaceflight. Credit: BBC/Space UpClose

Watch for Ken’s ongoing onsite mission coverage
of SpaceX Demo-1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center. 


Watch for Ken’s continuing
onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.


Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and
Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer
– email: ken at kenkremer.com

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