While most of us slept last night, something happened for the first time since 1968. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, FL. This was the first night splashdown since Apollo 8.
Technology has changed a lot since then and with night vision, GPS and satellite, you could watch the whole thing on YouTube.
Spaceflight has to be one of the most nerve-wracking jobs imaginable. There are a number of things that could go wrong and all of them can lead to a catastrophic tragedy.
So it’s no surprise that once the Crew Dragon Resilience had splashed down safely, the communications between the SpaceX CORE (Crew Operations and Resources Engineer) and the astronauts had a sense of levity.
SpaceX CORE: “Dragon, on behalf of NASA and SpaceX teams, we welcome you back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX. For those of you enrolled in our frequent flier program, you’ve earned 68 million miles on this voyage.”
Commander Mike Hopkins: “SpaceX, Resilience is back on planet Earth……. and we’ll take those miles. Are they transferrable?”
SpaceX CORE: ” Dragon, we’ll have to refer you to our marketing department for that policy.”
I’d hate to think what the conversion rate for SpaceX to Southwest is going to be.
We also got to witness the first instance of HUCA (Hang up, call again) when the rep doesn’t know the answer. However, I feel that when the Commander calls back, he’ll end up talking to the same person. 🙂
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Cover Image by NASA-Imagery from Pixabay
