So, what was your summer vacation like?

For NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, their summer getaway was out of this world!

After more than two months in orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Behnken and Hurley splashed down in a SpaceX Dragon capsule the crew named Endeavor in the Gulf of Mexico three miles off the Pensacola, Florida, coast on Aug. 2.

Behnken and Hurley were then taken to a nearby medical facility to check their health, then flown to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Arturo Machuca, General Manager of EFD and the Houston Spaceport, said they were then flown in a NASA plane to EFD to be reunited with their families.

The astronauts make their homes in the Clear Lake area, near EFD. The area has long been home to NASA astronauts, engineers and other personnel.

"This was a great day for NASA and a great day for the United States of America," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said, in a post-splashdown press conference. "We are entering a new era of human spaceflight where NASA is no longer the purchaser, owner, and operator of all of the hardware. We are going to be a customer — one customer of many customers in a very robust commercial marketplace for human spaceflight to low Earth orbit."

NASA has graced the expansive premises of EFD for the past 56 years, initially establishing its facilities to serve as a base for astronaut flight proficiency training and specialized aircraft training because of its proximity to Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, just southeast of EFD.

Machuca has often spoke of his pride in co-habitating with NASA. “Their work is so vitally important,” Machuca said. “We are always happy to support them in any way that we can.”

EFD is also home to the Houston Spaceport, the nation’s 10th licensed commercial spaceport and a focal point for aerospace innovation. The Houston Spaceport and NASA have an agreement in place that allows the Spaceport to tap into NASA’s assets and expertise, which expands opportunities for all tenants and partners in the commercial spaceflight industry. The agreement supports suborbital operations and commercial spaceflight and allows the Spaceport access to safety-specific training, facilities and technical capabilities at NASA.

Behnken and Hurley are now a part of history. NASA and commercial space company SpaceX made history by flying them on SpaceX’s Falcon rocket to the ISS on May 30, then returning them to Earth.

On the return to Earth, the Endeavor crew hit the atmosphere at an incredible 17,500 miles per hour, protected by a heat shield that was previously covered by the capsule’s trunk, which was no longer needed and was jettisoned as the craft passed over the Indian Ocean. The typical drag during reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere slowed the craft to 350 miles per hour, and then capsule released a series of parachutes to further slow its descent into the Gulf.

Spectacular.

NASA ended its Space Shuttle program back in 2011, afterward contracting with Russia by flying all of its American astronauts and cargo shipments to the ISS from Russia in Russian rockets.

The commercial relationship with Russia ended thanks to Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and his SpaceX company. Musk started SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of flying American cargo and astronauts into space, with the ultimate goal of flying them to Mars. SpaceX became the first commercial space company in the world to launch astronauts into Earth orbit and return them safely to Earth.

Behnken and Hurley blasted off in their SpaceX Dragon capsule on May 30 and spent two months living and working on board the ISS. And then they came home to the applause of a nation, setting the tone for a brand new day in space exploration and travel.

With SpaceX and Boeing leading the way, the commercial marketplace is robust, and Machuca said the Houston Spaceport has real estate and resources available for companies looking to capitalize on the marketplace for such ventures.

“But we also want to have numerous providers that are competing against each other on cost, and innovation, and safety,” Bridenstine said, “driving down costs and increasing access to space in a way that’s never been seen before. So, this is really an amazing day!”

One such provider is Ellington-based Intuitive Machines, on track to be the first private U.S. company to land a spacecraft on the moon. The company received a contract from NASA to develop, launch and land its Nova-C spacecraft on the surface of the moon, according to a recent press release. The mission will be the first in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, for which Intuitive Machines and eight other U.S. companies were selected for consideration by NASA in late November 2018. Intuitive Machines was the only Houston-based company selected for NASA’s program.

The Nova-C mission is planned for 2021.

In the meantime, Behnken and Hurley have come back down to Earth from their out-of-the-world experience. So once again, how was your summer vacation?