WASHINGTON – It’s been a little over a month since Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley made history by becoming the first NASA astronauts to pilot a private spacecraft to the International Space Station.
As they prepare for the equally momentous journey back to Earth, the two are scheduled to speak to USA TODAY along with ISS Commander Chris Cassidy in an exclusive interview from the International Space Station that will also be carried on NASA-TV. The interview is scheduled to be aired Tuesday from 12:43 to 12:50 p.m. EST.
They’ll be asked to reflect on their pioneering journey, their preparations for a return that will include the first splashdown of a U.S. crew in 45 years, and how the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule compares to the space shuttles they rode on separately about a decade ago.
And we’ll ask them about orbiting the Earth while their families back home have had to weather a global pandemic without them.
Their 27-foot capsule, launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida May 30 at 3:22 EST docked with the space station roughly 19 hours later. It was the first spacecraft to carry humans from U.S. soil to the orbiting lab since NASA ended its Space Shuttle program in 2011 – and the first private one carrying humans ever to do so.
Behnken and Hurley have been busy during their 37 days circling the globe some 260 miles above Earth.
Cassidy and Behnken performed a pair of spacewalks to upgrade the batteries that provide power to the station’s solar arrays. In between station tasks, Hurley has been snapping breath-taking photos of his home planet and sharing them on social media.
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After a stay that could last up to four months, Behnken and Hurley will reenter the capsule for departure and a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
Asked shortly after docking during a news conference what the 19-hour flight was like, Behnken said the Falcon 9 liftoff’s was surprisingly smooth. After separation, he said Crew Dragon was more “alive” than the comparatively massive space shuttle orbiter he last flew in 2010.
“We were definitely driving and riding a dragon all the way up,” Behnken said. “It was not quite the smooth ride the space shuttle was. A little bit more ‘alive’ is the best way I would describe it.”
For Hurley, the docking is familiar. In 2011, he was on the final space shuttle mission’s rendezvous with the ISS, during which his team left behind an American flag to be retrieved by the next group of astronauts launched from U.S. soil.
Now, nearly 10 years later, he’ll capture the flag he left behind.
Contributing: Emre Kelly, Florida Today
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASA astronauts who flew on SpaceX rocket to ISS talk about mission