The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board splashes down at the end of the Demo-2 mission on Aug. 2, 2020.NASA's Anil Menon got splashdown practice with SpaceX even before he joined the astronaut corps.capsule made a historic return to Earth on Aug. 2, 2020. It was the first time an American spacecraft splashed down in the ocean with humans on board in 45 years.recruited Menon, a flight surgeon and U.S.
SpaceX was finishing up development of its human-rated Crew Dragon spacecraft back then, which put Menon in line to help the first two NASA astronauts to fly with the company: Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. Their mission, Demo-2, spent two months at the "That was one of the most powerful experiences of my life," Menon told Space.com of his work with Demo-2. He embedded with the recovery team, which was tasked with picking the NASA duo up in the Atlantic Ocean, near Florida's east coast. Their job was to figure out procedures if things went right — and especially if things went wrong.Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Anil Menon, a NASA astronaut and U.S.
Ahead of Demo-2's flight in 2020, teams from NASA and SpaceX practice procedures for medical emergency evacuation onboard the GO Searcher ship on Aug. 15, 2019, using a Leonardo AW139 helicopter.Demo-2's return easily fell into the category of"not-normal." The world was gripped in lockdowns amid the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating social distancing, masking and sanitary precautions for all first responders on board., concluded in 1975.
Overall, the splashdown preparation and recovery went as planned. Some team members did get infected with COVID, but the rates were tenfold below the medical standard of the day, Menon said. , Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer forfor 10 years before joining full-time.