The modern era of splashdowns was ushered in by SpaceX — and, thankfully, today’s landings, such as the Orion splashdown, have proved far less risky than their predecessors.
Apollo 11 crew and a Navy diver await pickup from the USS Hornet after splashdown in 1969. Most American launch sites are on the coast. But have you ever wondered why, for more than a decade, spacecraftSplashdown, the term for landing capsules or other spacecraft in a body of water with the help of parachutes, was NASA’s preferred method prior to the invention of the Space Shuttle. Now, in the era following it, we may be revisiting splashdowns as the best way to get astronauts home safely.
Nowadays, by the time a space capsule actually splashes down in a body of water, it’s traveling at the relatively leisurely speed of around 15 to 20 mph. To begin slowing things down, NASA turns to a technique called. Basically, the spacecraft purposely brushes against the top of Earth’s atmosphere just enough to create friction.
The giant parachutes you may already associate with splashdowns don’t actually come into play until the final leg of the flight — when the craft is less than 10,000 feet from the surface. If these are deployed too high up in the atmosphere, the thinner air poses problems.flights, after a successful plunge into the ocean, a helicopter would then attach a cable to the capsule and place it safe and sound on a nearby ship.
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