SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to splash down in Pacific for first time — how to watch
NASA / SpaceX
SpaceX is making final preparations to bring home the Fram2 crew, which launched to orbit in a private mission on Monday.
The Crew Dragon and its four crewmembers will splash down off the coast of California on Friday, marking the first Crew Dragon mission to land in the Pacific Ocean
Up to now, the Crew Dragon capsules have landed off the coast of Florida, but to eliminate risks on the ground involving fragments of the trunk section that jettisons from the spacecraft during descent, SpaceX has decided to switch the landing zone to the Pacific.
SpaceX actually used the Pacific for the first uncrewed Dragon supply missions, but switched to the East Coast in 2019.
How to watch
The Fram2 mission is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, April 4. The Crew Dragon’s homecoming will be livestreamed on SpaceX’s X account, though the company has yet to confirm when the broadcast will start. We will update this article with timings just as soon as the details are announced.
More about the mission
Sponsored by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chun Wang, Fram2 is the first-ever crewed mission to take a polar orbit.
The crew comprises Wang, Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, German roboticist Rabea Rogge, and Australian polar adventurer Eric Phillips.
While in orbit, the Fram2 crew is carrying out more than 20 experiments focused on advancing scientific understanding of spaceflight, which could prove useful for future missions. They include radiation measurements, mushroom cultivation in microgravity conditions, and observing polar light phenomena like auroras. While some experts have questioned the mission’s scientific merit, Fram2 demonstrates the potential for innovative commercial ventures to contribute to long-term space exploration goals.
Travling around 270 miles above Earth’s surface, the crew has already been sharing dramatic imagery captured from the Crew Dragon’s cupola window. Wang has also shared social media posts explaining how he and his fellow crewmembers felt a little rough as they adjusted to the microgravity conditions during their first day in orbit.
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NASA’s ‘stuck’ astronauts have finally left the space station
After a nine-month stay that was only supposed to last eight days, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally left the International Space Station (ISS) and are on their way home.
Seated inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft alongside fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, Williams and Wilmore undocked from the orbital outpost at 1:05 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 18.
Cool time-lapse shows SpaceX Crew-10 arriving at space station
Space station astronaut Don Pettit has shared a cool time-lapse of SpaceX’s Crew-10 Crew Dragon spacecraft arriving at the orbital facility on Sunday.
The footage, which runs more quickly than the actual speed, shows the capsule approaching the docking port on the International Space Station (ISS), which orbits at around 250 miles above Earth. Pettit posted a short and long version of the spacecraft’s autonomous approach:
SpaceX will launch Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot to Mars next year
The year 2025 is going to be pivotal for Tesla’s humanoid robot plans, if the words of CEO Elon Musk are to be believed. But next year could mark an astronomical milestone for the company’s Optimus robot, in quite the literal sense.
Taking to X, Musk mentioned in a post that SpaceX will put an Optimus robot on Mars atop its flagship Starship rocket by the end of 2026. Just over a week ago, the Starship broke apart following a launch test, the second such failure this year.
“Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely.”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1859078074303713447
This won’t be the first time Musk is making such a claim. Back in November last year, Musk mentioned that SpaceX was capable of sending “several uncrewed Starships” to the red planet within a couple of years and that the payload would include Optimus robots.
Tesla introduced a refined version of the Optimus robot at a glitzy event late in 2024. At the event, Musk told the crowd that Optimus was “the biggest product ever of any kind.” It was later reported that the robots were remotely operated by humans at the event.
Later, during the company’s Q4 2024 earnings calls, Musk shed more light on production plans, adding that the product has a revenue potential higher than $10 trillion. He also mentioned plans to manufacture thousands of humanoid robots in 2025.
