Historic SpaceX mission successfully returns NASA astronauts to Earth
02 August 2020
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are safely back on Earth after a historic flight to and from the International Space Station provided by SpaceX.
Why it matters: The landing marks the end of SpaceX's first crewed trip to the space station for NASA and the beginning of the space agency's next phase in exploration, one marked by partnerships with private companies.
State of play: The two astronauts splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico at about 2:48 p.m. ET after undocking from the station on Saturday.
- A SpaceX vessel will now recover Hurley and Behnken from their Crew Dragon capsule and deliver them to solid ground in Florida before the two astronauts fly back home to their families in Houston.
The big picture: Behnken and Hurley's 2-month mission marked the first time people have launched to orbit from the U.S. since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.
- NASA now hopes to buy spaceflight and other services from private companies like SpaceX in order to help create an economy in orbit around the Earth, where the space agency can be a buyer of services instead of a provider.
- That change, in theory, will free the agency (and its budget) up to focus more fully on farther-afield goals, like getting people to the Moon and Mars.
What's next: NASA already has plans to launch more astronauts to the space station with SpaceX in the near future.
- Behnken and Hurley's test flight — designed to certify the Crew Dragon for full operation — is expected to be followed up with SpaceX's first operational flight scheduled for late September.
- That flight will see NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi fly to the station for a 6-month mission.
One fun thing: Behnken's wife and fellow astronaut Megan McArthur is also expected to launch to the orbiting laboratory aboard the second operational flight of the Crew Dragon.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.