SpaceX Astronauts Successfully Splash Down Off California Coast
Four private astronauts splashed down in waters near Oceanside, California, on Friday, marking the first time a SpaceX vehicle has landed in the Pacific Ocean after six years of returning to Earth in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico.
The Fram2 mission, which orbited the Earth for four days, was a significant milestone as it allowed the crew to look down directly at the North and South Poles from space. The new approach aims to reduce the risk of debris falling on random parts of the planet by utilizing the Pacific Ocean’s vast expanse.
Prior to this mission, SpaceX faced challenges with pieces of its Dragon capsule landing in unexpected locations, including a sheep field in Australia and a hiking trail in North Carolina. To address this issue, the company has modified its landing procedures to jettison the spacecraft’s trunk later in the return journey, allowing for more accurate aiming.
The Pacific Ocean provides a large, unpopulated area where debris can burn up without posing a danger to people. This change will also help NASA with mission scheduling, as calmer weather conditions are prevalent along the West Coast.
For the Fram2 crew, including investor Chun Wang and robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, this was their first spaceflight experience. Wang reported on the challenges of space motion sickness, stating that it subsided after two days.
The Pacific splashdown is a return to an earlier era of spaceflight, as many of NASA’s Apollo missions landed in the ocean during the same period. With twenty previous missions using an older version of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, this marks a new chapter for the company’s commercial operations.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/science/spacex-fram2-splashdown-california.html