Nasa SpaceX crew returns to Earth after historic mission

Miami, Aug 2 (efe-epa).- NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have left the International Space Station and are due to return to Earth on Sunday.

The United States astronauts undocked their Dragon Endeavour capsule on Saturday after a historic mission that began on 30 May.

Depending on weather conditions, the capsule is due to drop into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico at around 18.48 GMT on Sunday and will probably be towed to Pensacola, northwest Florida.

This will complete the Demo-2 mission, which will prove the ability of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX to conduct commercial space travel.

Behnken and Hurley’s trip was the first from US soil in a commercial spacecraft to the ISS since the completion of NASA’s shuttle program in 2011.

Tropical Storm Isaiah, which is approaching Florida’s east coast after passing through the Bahamas and the Caribbean, will make it harder for the crew to return to land near Cape Canaveral where Dragon Endeavour was launched on a Falcon-9 rocket.

NASA and SpaceX are closely monitoring the weather forecast for the capsule’s dive into the sea.

Pensacola is the first port chosen to tow the craft into but there are other options available

NASA spokeswoman Leah Cheshier if there is a change of weather Behnken and Hurley could orbit the Earth and have enough supplies for several days.

This would allow time for the weather to improve or for them to find another place to land the capsule.