NASA’s coverage of astronauts’ return from Space Station

NASA will provide live coverage of events concerning the return of astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley from the International Space Station (ISS). Here’s what and when to watch.

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley arrived at the ISS on May 31, following a succesful first manned launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 1 August, 7:34 p.m. EDT (16:34 PDT / 23:34 UTC / 01:34 CET) for undocking of the Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft from the space station. Next, they are planning for splashdown at 2:42 p.m. EDT (11:42 PDT / 18:42 UTC / 20:42 CET) on the 2nd of August. This is set to be the first return of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft carrying astronauts from the ISS. So: what’s there to watch?

Note: times below are in Eastern Daylight Time. Pacific Time is -3 hours, UTC is +4 hours and CET is +6 hours.

Wednesday, July 29

At approximately 6 p.m. (or one hour after the completion of the review), a Return Flight Readiness Review briefing will take place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Participants will be:
– Jim Bridenstine (NASA Administrator)
– Steve Stich (Manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program)
– Joel Montalbano (Manager, NASA’s ISS Program)
– Benji Reed (Director, SpaceX Crew Mission Management)

Friday, July 31

10:45 a.m.
Crew News Conference, from the International Space Station are NASA astronauts:
– Bob Behnken
– Doug Hurley
– Chris Cassidy

Saturday, August 1

9:10 a.m.
SpaceX Dragon Demo-2 Farewell Ceremony aboard the ISS

5:15 p.m.
Undocking coverage begins at NASA TV. The undocking is scheduled to take place at 7:34 p.m. NASA TV will provide continuous from undocking to splashdown.

Sunday, August 2

2:42 p.m.
Splashdown is scheduled for this time. NASA and SpaceX are capable of supporting 7 splashdown locations off the coast of Florida. These sites are the coasts of Pensacola, Tampa, Tallahassee, Panama City, Cape Canaveral, Daytona and Jacksonville. For more information, check out the Departure and Splashdown Criteria Fact Sheet.

5 p.m.
Post-splashdown news conference at Johnson Space Center:
– Jim Bridenstine (NASA Administrator)
– Commercial Crew Program representative
– ISS representative
– SpaceX representative
– NASA Astronaut Office representative

Tuesday, Aug. 4

4:30 p.m.
Demo-2 Crew News Conference from the Johnson Space Center with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

If you want to know more about the return of NASA’s and SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission, make sure to check out “Top 10 Things to Know for NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Return“.

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