Thank You For Flying SpaceX

Today, a United States space capsule touched down in the Gulf of Mexico, completing a journey that started some two months ago.

The last time a United States capsule touched down in water was 45 years ago (July 24, 1975, to be exact).  Many of my readers weren't even alive then.

For a time, we used space shuttles flown by Americans, but the program had two disasters - two too many, and at least one partially caused by cost cutting.

Then, for many years, our former enemy, Russia, had to take us back and forth.

Now, our space exploration can finally continue, in a joint partnership between NASA and private industry.  When the astronauts touched down into the Gulf, a ground person said "Thank you for flying SpaceX."

It reminded me of the old "Thank you for flying Lufthansa" joke about a plane that had to ditch in the ocean, and which I won't repeat here.

But you do have to admire pilots for their absolute cool.  If you have a few minutes, check out this video.

Back to SpaceX, what makes this even sweeter is that one of the two astronauts in the capsule, Doug Hurley, grew up in my local area.

What is a bit sobering is that the recovery crew all had to quarantine for two weeks and were tested for COVID-19 before being allowed to participate in the recovery.  It is good and right that we continue space exploration during this time, but these astronauts, as fate would have it, had to parachute into a corona virus hotspot.

I hope this program does not get sidetracked while we on Earth try to figure the pandemic out.