Communications Re-established with Crew Dragon; Minutes to Splashdown

NASA and SpaceX support teams onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship prepare for the landing of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020 in the Gulf of Mexico off the cost of Pensacola, Florida.
NASA and SpaceX support teams onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship prepare for the landing of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020 in the Gulf of Mexico off the cost of Pensacola, Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

As expected, controllers have acquired the signal from the SpaceX Crew Dragon and spoken with astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley.

The next milestone will be the deployment of parachutes, coming up in about two minutes. Dragon Endeavour has two sets of parachutes will that deploy once back inside Earth’s atmosphere to slow down prior to splashdown. Two drogue parachutes will deploy at about 18,000 feet in altitude while Crew Dragon is moving approximately 350 miles per hour. Four main parachutes will deploy at about 6,000 feet in altitude while Crew Dragon is moving approximately 119 miles per hour.