America watched on with excitement as two astronauts splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday afternoon.
The landing marked the end of a two-month trip to the International Space Station.
Apalachin native Doug Hurley and fellow astronaut Bob Behnken completed the first manned-mission into space since 2011 and the first astronaut water-landing since 1975.
"It worked, and it worked almost exactly to plan," said Drew Deskur, executive director of Kopernik Observatory. "It's great when things do work out like that. Clearly they've got a lot of backup. They run through a lot of emergency procedures but they didnt have to do that and it's just so great to see a plan executed essentially flawlessly.
This was NASA's first experience with commercial flight. The astronaut duo completed the final major step before the Commercial Crew Program certifies long-duration missions to the space station.
And SpaceX isn't the only company getting on board.
"SpaceX was doing it here with the Crew Dragon, we've got Lockheed and Boeing with the Orion, Amazon has got the Blue Horizon, so we're seeing a lot more commercial interests getting involved," said Deskur.
That commercial interest could lay the groundwork for a future trip to the moon.
And Doug Hurley may not be the only local astronaut making history.
The first person to step foot on the moon since 1969 could be a woman.
"One of them could possibly be Jeanette Epps, who's actually a Syracuse native," Deskur said. "I think she was on the short list. I havent heard much more about the selection and the timing, but the last I heard they're talking 2024. Unclear on how this COVID pandemic is affecting that timing."
Kopernik's director said this event brought together people of all ages like never before.
"We live-streamed the launch of the Crew Dragon and the return and in the chat box, people are talking to each other and reconnecting, so that's been another positive aspect of this," said Deskur.
Astronaut Megan McArthur, the wife of Bob Behnken, will pilot the next SpaceX mission in the Spring of 2021.
