“Difficulty breathing”, “unique experience” … the Dragon crew astronauts talk about their return to Earth

After spending more than 160 days in space, the company has brought astronauts back from the International Space Station SpaceX. They made the trip aboard the Crew Dragon capsule,
Who reached the sea, Off Florida, overnight from Saturday to Sunday. This was the first regular mission taken and then returned from the International Space Station by billionaire Elon Musk’s company. They say.

At some point, I was saying to myself, Breathe. Maybe. American Victor Glover, one of the four astronauts of the Baptist crew, said, “Because I felt so heavy.” Crew -1. “It’s kind of like those cartoon characters when they face the force of g (acceleration), and their faces are turned down.” American Shannon Walker said, “It was fun getting into the water because none of us knew what to expect.” From my point of view, it was more. Smooth running and down to earth. “

“Take off and return are unique experiences”

“I expected it to be such a test that in the end when it did happen for real, it was a little less than I had imagined,” Victor Glover added during a hurried conference. He described the weight of the acceleration “in the chest,” “which made breathing difficult.” But he said, “take off and return are unique experiences.” “The effect was really minimal and right after the landing, you could feel the waves,” said Japanese Soichi Noguchi. “We go back to the blue planet (…) It feels great.”

The NASA It contracted with SpaceX to be able to start launching astronauts into space again from American soil, something that had not been possible since 2011 with the end of the space shuttle. Until now they had to get on the plane
Russian Soyuz ships, Who landed on dry land.

Soon tourists in space

Soon, non-astronaut civilians will take their places on Dragon for space tourism missions. Astronauts were asked: Will these ordinary men be able to deal with re-entry into the atmosphere with this craft?

“I think they can handle it just as much,” said American Mike Hopkins. The latter was the first to raise his hand when asked if they were ready to leave. Only Victor Glover has not. The latter said with a big smile: “I am very happy to be on dry land and will be enjoying it for a while.”