Florida. SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn crew returned to Earth today on Sunday. The Dragon spacecraft landed on the Dry Tortugas coast of Florida at 1:06 pm. The spacecraft’s speed was 27 thousand km per hour while entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Friction was created due to the collision with the air and the temperature reached 1,900 degrees Celsius.
The Polaris Dawn mission was launched on September 10 by Elon Musk’s company’s Falcon-9 rocket. In this five-day mission, the four astronauts went to an orbit of 1,408.1 km, which no astronaut had gone to in more than 50 years. The most difficult part of any space mission is to return to Earth. To reach home safely, the Crew Dragon capsule started a de-orbit burn. The spacecraft entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of about 27 thousand kilometers per hour.
The collision with the air caused friction and the temperature reached 1,900 degrees Celsius. The heat shield fitted under the 4-meter wide Dragon spacecraft protected the astronauts from this temperature. As the spacecraft came down, its speed was slowed down. To reduce its speed further, parachutes were opened and a landing was made in water. A rescue team was already present there on a special boat. Before removing the astronauts from the capsule, the rescue team did a final safety check, then they were brought from water to land.