'Sounded like a beast': Astronauts recall SpaceX Dragon's return to Earth

SpaceX became first private company to send astronauts into orbit with the May 30 liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The astronauts on SpaceX's first crew flight said Tuesday that their Dragon capsule "came alive" and "sounded like a beast" as it descended through the atmosphere to a smooth splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Two days after returning from the International Space Station, NASA's Bob Behnken described in vivid detail their wild ride home. SpaceX had provided Behnken and Doug Hurley video and audio of previous splashdowns, so they wouldn't be startled during the test flight.

"Once we descended a little bit into the atmosphere, the Dragon really, it came alive, " Behnken said from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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