NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken landed near Florida

American astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken successfully landed on water in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Florida. Before their ship "endeavour" undocked from the International space station, where he arrived in late may.

The capsule landed in the planned time - 18:45 GMT (21:45 Moscow time).

Immediately after planting, Hurley said: "For us it is a great honor...", but due to interference the last part of the phrase in the air has not got.

"On behalf of SpaceX and NASA - welcome to Earth! Thank you for SpaceX used!" - said the representative of the mission control center.

Then the rescue group approached the "Endeavour" and picked it up on one of the rescue ships.

Hurley and Behnken left the spacecraft after experts were convinced that the capsule can safely open.

"Thank you that was able to carry out the most difficult and most important part of the manned flight into space, sent us into orbit and returned home!" said Behnken after rescuers opened the hatch of the ship.

The ship's company SpaceX Elon musk, "dragon" (Dragon Crew) started on may 30, and then docked to the ISS. This is the first manned spacecraft launched from the United States, since 2011, when it was discontinued a program of flights of a reusable Shuttle.

The successful landing of the "endeavour" (the name the astronauts gave their spacecraft) means that NASA again have a tried and tested method of sending people into orbit and back.

After the command, Hurley and Behnken started the engines and began the descent from orbit. The descent rate was very high: at the first stage it was a few kilometers per second. Then the ship entered the atmosphere, and the lower surface of the body the endeavour with special insulation is heated to 2 million degrees Celsius.

Last year, NASA and SpaceX worked on the landing with the use of a ship where no crew

During landing revealed two sets of parachutes: first, at a height of about 5.5 thousand meters triggered the drogue chute - at this point, the capsule speed was approximately 560 km per hour. And then, when the ship fell to 1.8 thousand meters above it revealed four main parachute, which gently planted "endeavour" on the surface of the ocean.

As usually happens during the landing, a few minutes before landing, the mission control center lost radio contact with the astronauts. This is because the ship is surrounded by hot gases that interfere with the radio waves.

The last time NASA landed a spacecraft on the surface of the water 45 years ago, July 24, 1975. Then the American ship "Apollo" splashed down in the Pacific ocean after docking with the Soviet "Soyuz-19".

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»