Part 3/6:
Inside the capsule, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams—familiar figures in spaceflight—were present and likely experiencing a mixture of relief and excitement. Communications between the capsule and mission control kept the team informed of each critical step, with one of the crew members, Commander Nick Hey, actively calling out altitude updates, providing reassurance and coordination.
The crowd on-site cheered as the capsule continued its descent, emphasizing the importance of human spaceflight and the returns of crewed missions safely back to Earth. The real-time visuals captured the calm ocean beneath the capsule, which had transitioned from a high-speed descent over 17,000 miles per hour to a gentle float just meters above the water.