Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, home two days from a landmark mission as NASA's first crew to fly a privately built vehicle into orbit, recounted on Tuesday the loud, jarring ride they experienced through Earth's atmosphere before a safe landing at sea.
Their splash-down on Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida - a mode of return for human spaceflight last used by NASA 45 years ago - capped the first launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.
At a news conference from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, their first extensive public remarks since coming home, Behnken, 50, and Hurley, 53, described the tense final moments of their 64-day journey.
The duo endured tremendous, jolting forces as the SpaceX-built Crew Dragon, an acorn-shaped vehicle that had carried them to the International Space Station, fired rocket thrusters to slow its descent for re-entry, then pierced the outer atmosphere.
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GULF OF MEXICO - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, is lifted onto the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after landing in the Gulf of Mexico on August 2, 2020 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
GULF OF MEXICO - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken (L) and Douglas Hurley are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft which landed in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station on August 2, 2020 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
GULF OF MEXICO - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, a recovery support team and recreational boaters surround the SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, which landed in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station on August 2, 2020 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
PENSACOLA, FL - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley (L) and Robert Behnken (2R) prepare to disembark from a helicopter at Naval Air Station Pensacola on August 2, 2020 in Pensacola, Florida. Behnken and Hurley were on board the SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft which landed in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
GULF OF MEXICO - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, lands in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station on August 2, 2020 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
PENSACOLA, FL - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley waves to onlookers as he boards a plane departing for Houston at Naval Air Station Pensacola on August 2, 2020 in Pensacola, Florida. NASA astronauts Hurley and Robert Behnken were on board the SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft which landed in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
PENSACOLA, FL - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA astronaut Robert Behnken gives a thumbs up to onlookers as he boards a plane departing for Houston at Naval Air Station Pensacola on August 2, 2020 in Pensacola, Florida. NASA astronauts Behnken and Douglas Hurley were on board the SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft which landed in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
GULF OF MEXICO - AUGUST 2: In this handout image provided by NASA, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, lands in the Gulf of Mexico after completing the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station on August 2, 2020 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
GULF OF MEXICO - AUGUST 2: In this screen grab from NASA TV, SpaceX 's Crew Dragon capsule spacecraft just before it splashes down in to the water after completing NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard, August 2, 2020 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. The Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The test flight serves as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceXs crew transportation system. Behnken and Hurley launched at 3:22 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 30, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit for the first time since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)
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"It came alive," Behnken told reporters of the nearly 12-minute thruster burn. "It doesn't sound like a machine, it sounds like an animal coming through the atmosphere."
As the capsule streaked deeper through the sky, atmospheric friction scorched the protective heat shield of the plunging Crew Dragon to 3,500 Fahrenheit (1,927 Celsius), slowing its rate of descent to 350 mph (563 kph).
At that point, the first of two sets of parachutes were deployed, abruptly breaking the capsule's speed further - an interval that felt "very much like getting hit in the back of the chair with a baseball bat," Behnken recalled.
"It was a pretty significant jolt," he said.
The second set of chutes gradually slowed the capsule to a gentle 15-mph rate of descent for a splash-down that ended what Hurley called a "flawless" mission.
Minutes later, recovery teams dispatched by SpaceX, the California-based rocket company founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, hoisted the capsule onto a boat. Behnken and Hurley where then flown by helicopter to shore to catch a private flight to Houston.
The two were launched to the International Space Station from Florida on May 31, embarking on a two-month journey to prove the Crew Dragon capsule safe for transporting humans to and from space.
While bobbing in the water just after splash-down awaiting recovery teams, Hurley said they completed one final test objective for the mission: "making prank satellite phone calls to whoever we can get a hold of."
"There was a real reason for it," Hurley said, in all seriousness, explaining that they needed to prove they could contact mission control using a sat-phone in case the crew landed from space in an unexpected part of the ocean. (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by Steve Gorman, Robert Birsel)
