27 epic images show how SpaceX made history by flying NASA astronauts to and from the space station

SpaceX; Business Insider

• SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship splashed into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, returning NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley from a high-stakes mission to the space station.
• The demonstration mission resurrected US human spaceflight after a nine-year hiatus. The astronauts were the first people to fly in a commercial spaceship.
• Here are 27 incredible photos from their journey.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SpaceX and NASA made history on Sunday when a toasted, gumdrop-shaped spaceship splashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Crew Dragon capsule — designed by SpaceX with funding from NASA — was returning astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to Earth after an unprecedented mission to the International Space Station. It was the first time a private company had taken humans into space.

But this was just a demonstration mission. Its success tees NASA up to ferry astronauts regularly to and from the space station aboard the Crew Dragon. 

"This day heralds a new age of space exploration," Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, said in a briefing after the splashdown, adding, "I'm not very religious, but I prayed for this one."

Here are the best photos from the launch, the astronauts' time in space, and their fiery plunge back to Earth.

Behnken and Hurley were the first people ever to fly a commercial spacecraft.

SpaceX via Twitter

Their mission, called Demo-2, revived the US's ability to launch and fly its own astronauts, which it lost after the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

SpaceX

For the last nine years, NASA relied on increasingly expensive Russian Soyuz rockets to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station

On May 30, Behnken and Hurley climbed into the Crew Dragon and launched into space atop one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets.

Tony Gray and Tim Powers/NASA


See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• A boat flying a Trump flag approached SpaceX's spaceship after the astronauts landed. NASA promised to 'do a better job' next time.
• SpaceX just won an epic, high-stakes game of capture the flag that Barack Obama started 9 years ago
• SpaceX's first crewed mission is headed back to Earth. Here's every step that must go perfectly for 2 NASA astronauts to come home safely.

SEE ALSO: NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, whose husband just flew on SpaceX's Crew Dragon, will pilot the spaceship in the spring

DON'T MISS: Meet Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, 2 'badass' astronauts, engineers, and 'space dads' who flew SpaceX's Crew Dragon to orbit and back

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/31iNAcj