Astronautas voltam à Terra após missão de 160 dias no espaço

Voo da Estação Espacial ao Golfo do México levou seis horas e meia e resultou no 1º pouso noturno na água desde a Apollo 8

02/05/2021 - 08h25 (Atualizado em 20/04/2024 - 06h53)

A cápsula Crew Dragon, da empresa SpaceX, pousou na manhã deste domingo (2) na costa da Flórida, nos Estados Unidos, com quatro astronautas, após uma missão que durou 160 dias no espaço.

O voo da Estação Espacial Internacional ao Golfo do México, na costa da Cidade do Panamá, no sudeste dos Estados Unidos, teve duração de seis horas e meia. Foi o primeiro pouso noturno da Nasa na água desde a tripulação da Apollo 8, em 1968.

O major Michael Hopkins foi o primeiro a sair da cápsula com os astronautas, seguido por Victor Glover. Ambos retornaram à Terra com as também norte-americanas Shannon Walker e a japonesa Soichi Noguchi. "É incrível o que pode ser realizado quando as pessoas se unem. Você está mudando o mundo. Parabéns. É ótimo estar de volta”, disse Hopkins em uma rede social da NASA.

"Todos nós, como você pode imaginar, estamos muito animados com o respingo pelo que vai permitir, e esse é o retorno às nossas famílias. [...] Estamos todos muito felizes com a missão. No entanto, acho que estamos todos muito animados para voltar para casa", completou Hopkins.

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Os quatro astronautas em novembro se tornaram os primeiros de uma missão operacional a serem transportados para a Estação Especial pela empresa do bilionário Elon Musk, que se tornou um parceiro da Nasa.

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Dois outros americanos já fizeram a viagem de ida e volta a bordo do Dragon em 2020, durante uma missão-teste de dois meses na estação. Foi o primeiro voo para a estação lançado dos Estados Unidos desde o fim dos ônibus espaciais em 2011, e o primeiro de uma empresa privada com astronautas a bordo.

A saída desta tripulação, Tripulação-1, ocorre após a chegada a bordo da Estação Espacial Internacional, na semana passada, de uma segunda missão regular, Tripulação-2, realizada pela empresa americana.

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Operação

A Nasa e a SpaceX, em cooperação com a guarda costeira, estabeleceram uma zona de segurança de 10 milhas náuticas ao redor do local de pouso planejado para garantir a segurança do público e daqueles que recuperam os astronautas, explicou a NASA.

Durante o retorno dos dois astronautas da missão de teste em agosto de 2020, a nave chegou muito perto do local de chegada da cápsula e teve que ser removida.

Além dos quatro astronautas da Crew-2, outro astronauta americano e dois russos, que chegaram em um foguete Soyuz, também permanecem na Estação Espacial. Antes da partida da Crew-1, a estação espacial abrigava 11 pessoas.

This screen grab taken from the NASA live feed early on May 2, 2021 shows the SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft (C), with parachutes open, returning to Earth as it carries four astronauts just before splashdown off the coast of Panama City in the US state of Florida.
Handout / NASA / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows Support teams working around the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Victor Glover, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi aboard in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows the support teams working around the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Victor Glover, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi aboard in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

This screen grab taken from the NASA live feed early on May 2, 2021 shows the SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying four astronauts being hoisted onto a vessel after splashdown following its return to Earth, off the coast of Panama City in the US state of Florida.
Handout / NASA / AFP

This screen grab taken from the NASA live feed early on May 2, 2021 shows a recovery team opening the hatch of the SpaceX's Crew Dragon Resilience capsule, aboard the Go Navigator recovery boat, after splashing down as it carries four astronauts returning to Earth, off the coast of Panama City in the US state of Florida. The capsule splashed down at 2:56 am (0656 GMT) in the dark in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast after a six-and-a-half hour flight from the ISS, images relayed by NASA's WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft showed. Astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi went to space on November 2020 as the crew on the first fully operational mission to the ISS aboard a vehicle made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has become NASA's favored commercial transportation partner.
Handout / NASA / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi being helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he, NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Victor Glover, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows NASA astronaut Shannon Walker helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after she, NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins (C) reacting as he is helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he, NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows NASA astronaut Victor Glover being helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he, NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

This handout image courtesy of NASA and made available on May 2, 2021, shows NASA astronauts from left:- Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, strapped in their seats inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, on May 2, 2021. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Bill INGALLS / (NASA/Bill Ingalls) / AFP

Depois de 5 meses no espaço, a cápsula Crew Dragon, da empresa privada Space X, retornou à Terra nessa madrugada em viagem comandada pela Nasa. Nessa imagem capturada da transmissão ao vivo da Nasa, neste domingo (2), mostra a Crew Dragon, com os paraq...