SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts return to Earth wearing diapers

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - The astronauts of Crew-2 are coming back home to planet earth.

"This is the longest that a Crew Dragon has actually been in space – 200 days, that is about a month longer than the previous missions," said Ken Kremer, a SpaceUpClose journalist.

NASA’s Crew-1 commander Mike Hopkins has been there, done that, for his six-month mission to space exactly a year ago. He knows the trips aren’t without a few hiccups. 

Crew-2 left the International Space Station wearing diapers because of a broken toilet on the capsule.

"In terms of the risk, there is not a lot of risk there. As astronauts, when you launch and land and go out on spacewalks, you are wearing a diaper because you are in these suits for a long time," said Hopkins, the Crew-1 commander.

He added, "Every mission has things that go well and things that don’t go the way they were supposed to. I do not think there is a flight out there where that hasn’t been the case. But at the end of the day, when the astronauts crawl out of their vehicle and when you see their smiling faces, and their families get to see their smiling faces, that is the most important thing and the thing to take away from it."

SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft departs the International Space Station on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021.

Shortly after 12 p.m. on Monday, the hatch to the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft was closed. The spacecraft was then undocked shortly after 2 p.m.  Splashdown is scheduled for 10:33 p.m. off the Florida coast near Pensacola.

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