Big-splash finale for space mission

WASHINGTON－The SpaceX Crew Dragon "Endeavour" spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley undocked from the forward end of the International Space Station and the two astronauts were to make a splashdown on Sunday local time in the Gulf of Mexico, capping a two-month voyage in space that marked NASA's first crewed mission from home soil in nine years.

Crew Dragon "Endeavor" decoupled from the orbital station at 7:35 pm ET ahead of splashdown off the coast of Pensacola, Florida－the first procedure of its kind in a privately built space capsule.

"It's been a great two months, and we appreciate all you've done as a crew to help us prove out Dragon on its maiden flight," Hurley told the remaining US station crew member Chris Cassidy, as Crew Dragon autonomously eased away from its docking port to begin the 21-hour journey home.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to send humans to orbit on May 31 with the launch of Behnken and Hurley.

The mission marked the first time that the space agency had launched humans from US soil since its shuttle program was put into retirement in 2011.

Agencies - Xinhua