This May, SpaceX became the first private company to launch NASA astronauts to space with the Crew Dragon’s Demo-2 mission. Now, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are slated to return down to Earth on August 2nd after two months aboard the ISS.

According to NASA, the Crew Dragon spacecraft ‘Endeavour’, is targeted to undock from the space station on Saturday, August 1 at 1 7:34 PM EDT (Sunday, August 2 at 5:04 AM IST). Following the undocking, the spacecraft is targetted to splashdown on Sunday, August 2 at 2:42 PM EDT (on Monday, August 3 at 12:12 AM IST).

Additionally, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine pointed out on Twitter that weather will play an important role on the actual date of return.

NEWS: We’re targeting an Aug. 1 departure of @SpaceX‘s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft from the @Space_Station to bring @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug home after their historic #LaunchAmerica mission. Splashdown is targeted for Aug. 2. Weather will drive the actual date. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/VOCV51gzLi

— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) July 17, 2020

The spacecraft will splashdown at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, following which the recovery operations will take place.

NASA will live stream all the activities like the farewell ceremony aboard the ISS and the undocking the splashdown on its official website and YouTube channel.

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On May 31, the Dragon spacecraft became the first American spacecraft to launch American astronauts after the Space Shuttle program came to an end in 2011. Now, after its return, the spacecraft will be part of more crew missions to the ISS.

NASA has revealed that it is targeting for a late-September launch of it’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the space station. This will be the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft after the successful launch and return of Demo-2 test flight with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley.

The Crew Dragon will ferry NASA astronauts, commander Michael Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Shannon Walker along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi Noguchi for the Crew-1 mission to the ISS. It will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SEE ALSO: JAXA Shares Plan To Extended Its Hayabusa2 Asteroid Sample-Return Mission

Image Credit: NASA