US astronauts pack up for rare splashdown in SpaceX capsule

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two U.S. astronauts about to make the first splashdown return in 45 years said Friday they'll have seasick bags ready to use if needed.

SpaceX and NASA plan to bring Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken back Sunday afternoon in the company's Dragon capsule, aiming for the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida Panhandle. Flight controllers are keeping close watch on Hurricane Isaias, expected to stick to Florida’s east coast.

Hurley said if he and Behnken get sick while bobbing in the waves awaiting recovery, it won’t be the first time for a crew. Astronauts returning in the early 1970s from Skylab, NASA’s first space station, did not feel well following splashdown, Hurley noted.

Feeling sick “is the way it is with a water landing,” he said during the crew’s final news conference from the International Space Station.

This will be SpaceX’s first splashdown with astronauts on board, ending a two-month test flight that began May 30 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center — the first launch of a crew from the U.S. in nearly a decade. The capsule has been docked at the space station since May 31, allowing Hurley and Behnken to chip in with spacewalks and experiments.

Hurley said the emergency and other equipment has checked out well aboard Dragon, dubbed Endeavour. Launch and rendezvous went flawlessly, "so we expect nothing different for the splashdown," he said.

Their departure leaves three on board, one American and two Russians.

The Dragon capsule will be in the water for about an hour before it's hauled by crane onto a SpaceX recovery ship. It will be another hour before the hatch is opened and the astronauts emerge. Flight surgeons will be among the dozens of the recovery team members.

The plan is for the Dragon to undock from the space...