The SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission ha Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley launched on May 30 and had a 19-hour ride aboard the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) where they arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule. They have been busy performing their mission ever since. The duo is currently on the ISS where they completed the first of three orbital re-boosts to get ready for the next crew mission in October. There’s a lot riding on a safe return for the Crew Dragon. “This is SpaceX’s final test flight and is providing data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown and recovery operations,” NASA said in a statement released Wednesday. When the Crew Dragon completes this mission SpaceX will be able to provide regular, operational flights to the ISS starting later this year. And it would once and for all end NASA’s reliance on Russian spacecraft since the shuttle era ended 9 years ago. NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich talked about the possibility of bad weather affecting the astronaut’s return in a statement on Wednesday. He indicated that NASA is watching the weather. Splashdown schedule pending favorable weather
