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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Sian Traynor

SpaceX return tonight: How to watch the astronauts head safely back to Earth

Over two months after their successful lift off, the SpaceX astronauts will be making their return to Earth tonight.

On 27 May, hundreds of Edinburgh residents were spotted leaning out of their windows to try and catch a glimpse of Elon Musk's rocket on its way to the international space station.

Some lucky locals were actually able to see the spacecraft as it carried astronauts Robert Behnken, 48, and Douglas Hurley, 53, on board the Crew Dragon.

The huge event was the first time in nine years that two astronauts were launched into space from the US, as NASA teamed up with SpaceX to stream it live online.

Today this will happen again, as Behnken and Hurley undock from the space station and make their 19 hour journey back to base in Florida.

To watch the coverage, both NASA and SpaceX will be running coverage on their websites and social media from 9.15pm (UK time), as the craft begins to undock.

Two hours later, the Crew Dragon will begin heading back down from orbit, however it's the final two hours of the trip that you do not want to miss.

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From around 5.40pm on Sunday (August 2), the craft will be heading through the Earth's atmosphere at around 17,500 miles per hour, and will get as hot as 3500 degrees, now that's some dramatic telly.

Then finally at 9.42pm UK time the rocket will land back either in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico.

Unfortunately, unlike the launch, the re-entry will most likely only be visible above North America, however you can watch the full 24 hour live stream by following the link here.

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