NASA Astronauts to Discuss Upcoming Splashdown in Friday News Conference

NASA astronauts (from left) Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley and Chris Cassidy are the U.S. members of the Expedition 63 crew aboard the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts (from left) Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley and Chris Cassidy are the U.S. members of the Expedition 63 crew aboard the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will address their upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon departure and splashdown in a news conference at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, July 31, from the International Space Station.

Fellow NASA astronaut and current Expedition 63 commander Chris Cassidy will join the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight crew for the 30-minute news conference, which will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website just two days before Behnken and Hurley are targeted to return to Earth.

Weather permitting, NASA and SpaceX are targeting 2:42 p.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 2, for the splashdown and conclusion of the Demo-2 test flight mission, which is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, lifted off May 30 on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For more details, read the full media advisory.

This is SpaceX’s final test flight in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and will provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft, and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, landing, and crew return operations.