and really they are selected. and really the thing that unites them is that they're usually very good at whatever it is they've done first. so always the advice to young people is to go and find something that they enjoy doing, and do as well as you can because there is no one route to being an astronaut. tim pique left school at 16, joined the military, the man flying in march is a civil aviation pilot — all the european space agency astronauts, the european space agency will have another astronaut this year, so there is another opportunity for some people a go. but the young people listening, as well as one day perhaps being an astronaut, there are many, many jobs perhaps being an astronaut, there are many, manyjobs that support these astronauts. they are just the tip of the iceberg. thousands of jobs here in the uk, tens of thousands ofjobs, jobs here in the uk, tens of thousands of jobs, many jobs here in the uk, tens of thousands ofjobs, many similar numbers around the world. so there are lots of ways to be a part of this.

even with the advent of this terrorism for which there are tickets available now, i say to young people and i really say to young people and i really say to young people and i really say to young people that if they start saving now, they may one day be able to buy a ticket to go into space which is the era of commercialisation that we are seeing here with spacex. so, young people, space might not be the crazy pipe dream that people might imagine it to be. maybe for our generation, it never quite developed as some of us might have hoped when we were children, in terms of the opportunity, but for the coming generation, even more so although when you said they could be going up in the near future, when you said they could be going up in the nearfuture, i do not know if brian blessed was listening but he might yet want to give it another go. jonathan, on that question of the opportunities for people in terms of space exploration and in terms of space exploration and in terms of space exploration and in terms of involvement in the space programme, how big a deal is it internationally now as an industry?

you talked about the number of smaller countries that are involved compare to the superpowers, is it genuinely a growth industry? absolutely. there is no doubt about that. i often get asked about why nigeria has a space agency, why has the united arab emirates got a space agency, why has the uk got a space agency? why has the united states got the space agency and nasa isn't even the biggest space agency in the us, it is because it is a high—tech, high growth sector. if you take the uk as an example, if you back to the last recession, at the end of 2008-2009, the last recession, at the end of 2008—2009, the space sector was still growing even through that recession and so it does afford good qualityjobs, producing new technologies that we all need and it pays well as well. i should just go back to libby's point about what

else you need to be an astronaut because you also have to learn russian because on the space station, they speak english and they speak russian which was always something of a joke i used to have with the british astronaut tim pete because tim, by his own admission, struggled a little learning russian andi struggled a little learning russian and i used to say to him, tim, all you need to know is how to order a beerin you need to know is how to order a beer in the bar and you will get by! lots of attention seems to be focused on as small amount, they see it as an event. what are they trying to establish? it is probably guesswork for everyone, but you will have a more educated guess then we will. one thing you want to make sure before any hatch is opened is that you have the pressures right. in space, you need to make sure that the international space station is at the same pressure as the capsule. ido at the same pressure as the capsule. i do not know that the details of the pressure inside the spacecraft,

but they may be equalising all of that. they may also just be waiting for the big moments until the crew are ready, as jonathan for the big moments until the crew are ready, asjonathan mentioned, i'm not sure of the details, but if they have had any seasickness, they will not want to come out until they feel a little brighter, so it could be any of those things, but as always, they will not want to do it until they have gone through all of their check list, that everything is correct. you do not want to rush these things, you want to make sure that the moment is right. jonathan, according to some of them nasa commentary that my colleagues are hearing as these pictures come into us, there is some suggestion that they might be concerned that to make sure there is no nitrous oxide when they open. does that make sense? yes. yes, i do not know if you remember when the shuttle is used to land, one of the first pieces of equipment that used to go in was an enormous fan to try to clear some of the exhaust gases from the vehicle

before they moved into let the astronauts off, and i think we probably have a similar situation here where they are looking at some of the gases that may still be venting from the vehicle, so it is a good job that everyone is wearing a mask anyway from that point of view as well. and they have been up, this journey took them 21 hours. are they strapped in for the whole of that journey? it looks like a veritably small craft and yet it was designed to ta ke small craft and yet it was designed to take up to seven people. —— a relatively small craft. it would be pretty crowded in there, i think, with seven people. you could certainly do it. they have four seats on display there at the moment and they were sitting in the two central seats, but they are not strapped in all the time. they can float around. it is only in those key phases of flight that they have to don the suits and strap themselves in so when they undocked from the space station in the early hours of the morning, british time,

this morning, they were strapped in in their space suits, but then pretty much a after that, they got out and they had a good night's sleep and then they were walking up and they started to go through the routines of what they needed to do and what they needed to prepare to de—orbit and then when they came to de—orbit, that was the point at which, again, they got into the spacesuits and strap themselves in and, like! spacesuits and strap themselves in and, like i said, i would spacesuits and strap themselves in and, like i said, iwould not spacesuits and strap themselves in and, like i said, i would not be surprised if they are folding bull space it's up now in the vehicle and are in their normal gear. nasa is saying that some of the fumes i lingering, so maybe that —— make of that what you will. libby, does that make sense? yes, and as jonathan we re make sense? yes, and as jonathan were saying, this capital has been through the atmosphere, you have the jets which are the thrusters that control the spacecraft up in space which manoeuvred it as it went to

the international space station and slowed it down, that fuel is within not pleasant and they will want to make sure that the air is all there. ican see make sure that the air is all there. i can see they have some people with some breathing equipment and perhaps they are going to check that out. there might be, for example, a valve thatis there might be, for example, a valve that is supposed to be closed that has not been closed. this is a test flight, has not been closed. this is a test flight, the first time it has been happening, and safety of the crew and everyone is paramount, so they will not open the hatch until they are sure. let's listening to what nasa are telling us. it is one of the two hyperbolic fuels used in the drag, those two fuels a essentially when thrown together even without a negligence source will react and thatis negligence source will react and that is what makes them hyperbolic fuels. it's a simple and elegant solution used in a lot of orbits manoeuvring systems in spacecraft.

again, we arejust manoeuvring systems in spacecraft. again, we are just standing by. i have to say, a lot of people are just standing by and hoping, not least, of course, the families who wa nt to least, of course, the families who want to get their first glimpse of their loved ones after two months in space to see, i guess, if they have changed very much in that two—month period. you are watching bbc news and you are watching the attempts to prepare to open the capsule. this is the dragon capsule, the crude capsule from the company spacex which has been taken by nasa to take root in and out of the international space station but this is the first time that arsenal have been on board one of these crafts. they have been

used to, as libby was saying, for cargo for months now or actually four years to supply the international space station but this is the first time that cargo has been human cargo. doug hurley and bob behnken. let's listen in again to see what else they are saying. we wa nt to see what else they are saying. we want to keep all crew members safe as we prepare the side hatch for opening in order to progress. looks like limits are dropping and looking pretty good. we are still continuing with the purge just to be extra sure. so, there you are, libby, a purge, so it is fumes and maybe what you were saying about event. yes, they said that limits we re event. yes, they said that limits were going in the right direction, that was mission control there, they are monitoring it and seeing the numbers go down and they will wait until it is all gone before opening the hatch, so they are on top of it, they are following these things and just taking their time and making

sure it is safe. all the aspects, jonathan, i suppose that either point at which, for a commercial space programme, these are the practical difficulties, aren't they? because when you talk about commercial operations, you want efficiency, you want speed, you want to be able to repeat everything the same way every time, it doesn't a lwa ys same way every time, it doesn't always work like that and when you have government funded operations, you can perhaps absorb these things more easily. well, that is the whole point of having nasser overseeing everything that spacex is doing. just explain this to viewers if they don't quite understand the significance of why we are chattering away like this, nasser is ending its ownership and operation of vehicles just above the earth that carry humans. instead, it is going to purchase those transport services from different companies like spacex, boeing, other companies

in the future, and the way that nasa has done this as it has given these companies are seed money, if you like, to develop their systems. it has not told them how to design these systems, it has set out requirements, requirement specifically about safety and then the companies have gone away and they have come up with the solutions that we see before us now and so nasa sits over them, doesn't sort of interfere too much, but tells them when they are out of step, maybe, with something. have you thought of this? why don't we do this instead? and that hopefully will produce vehicles that are just as safe as all the ones we have seen in the past and so a lot of the procedures we are seeing past and so a lot of the procedures we are seeing now, so past and so a lot of the procedures we are seeing now, so usually eve ryo ne we are seeing now, so usually everyone is off the deck apart from these two individuals in breathing apparatus. this is knowledge gained over many years apparatus. this is knowledge gained over many years probably through nasa doing this kind of thing with the space shuttle, with apollo before that and passing that knowledge down to the newer

companies that are now working in this arena and, of course, many of these individuals that are working for spacex and four boeing will probably be x nasa employees so they will have been brought up in that culture. nasa are saying there is one where minutes of purging to go, so one where minutes of purging to go, so they are certainly ratcheting up the tension for when the hatch might be disengaged. libby, i am going to ask a stupid question and if it is very stupid, you might want to bump it to jonathan because very stupid, you might want to bump it tojonathan because he is paid to a nswer it tojonathan because he is paid to answer stupid questions and you are not. but why does it look like that? it looks like a pair, is there any significant to the pear—shaped? absolutely not a stupid question. it is altered it with the aerodynamics of how you re—enter the atmosphere. similarto of how you re—enter the atmosphere. similar to the apollo spacecraft which was also that shape for good reason, you are heading into the

atmosphere, you are slowing down from 17.5 thousand miles per hour but to get to the atmosphere, it is very hot. the blunt ngc with the flat bottom is ideal for managing the heat and the forces that you get and then it tapers away as a cone so that the heat can pass over it, so it is all really about the design and how you get back through the atmosphere safely and the heat shield works and keeps the crew safe and then underthe shield works and keeps the crew safe and then under the parachute and splashing down. i am pleased to say that donald trump says it is very exciting seeing the splashdown, the first in 45 years, another of his tweets, so it is good to know that he is watching and i suspect quite a lot of people will be watching, not just those professional involved or audiences here in the uk but around the world for this moment and, obviously, this particular part of it is the most important moment of

all the reassurance of seeing doug hurley and bob behnken emerge safe and well and hopefully not looking too green from bouncing around in the gulf of mexico. this all went pretty much a schedule, didn't it? there was some? over the weather, which splashdown area would be better, the gulf of mexico favoured over better, the gulf of mexico favoured over the atlantic, but the azure p rog ress over the atlantic, but the azure progress from disengagement to splashdown was pretty much textbook, wasn't it, as far as people are able to assess? yes, yes, it certainly was. just to pick—up libby's point, car all look the same, fundamentally, they all look the same, all have the same kind of shape. i know some people get very excited about different models of car, but they are all that kind of teardrop shape and space capsules are the shape they are. it is physics, basically. that is the

reason. yes, it has gone very smoothly, this mission, right from the outset, right from the launch back at the kennedy space center at the end of may. it was a really joyous thing to see that rocket lift off, to see the cap shall come off the top and then make its way up to the top and then make its way up to the space station. there was really no problem at all in terms of docking with the international space station. that all went very smoothly and then we have seen today the underdog in the early hours of the morning uk time and then coming back exactly morning uk time and then coming back exa ctly o n morning uk time and then coming back exactly on the moments that they said they would, all the phases of flight said they would, all the phases of flight have been perfect and not even this hurricane that is moving up even this hurricane that is moving up the east coast of florida has been able to dampen the enthusiasm for today. they had a number of different splashdown locations that they could choose and they went for one that was in, really, the far

north—west hand corner if you know the shape of florida, just south of pensacola, but they could have gone anywhere, really, around the coast of florida on the eastern side as well which is kind of where we thought they would come back initially, the sort of nominal location that they would return to, but obviously with the hurricane moving in, they decided that they would move to pensacola and you have seen would move to pensacola and you have seen the condition of the water, just look at it to the side of the ship year, it is flat. they can hardly have a breath of wind which isa hardly have a breath of wind which is a perfect conditions for bringing a spacecraft back like this and they will be really pleased with the way things have gone. the ship actually is going to be taken back to florida. it will be refurbished and it will be flawed again in the spring of next year and interestingly doug hurley and bob behnken are both married to

astronauts and bob behnken's wife megan will fly in this capsule in spring next year, so i'm sure he will have some tips about where to put stuff in the capital when she goes up. we are being told by now so that they are taking a sample from inside the dragon to presumably check that all is well. we had this rather strange little kind of co ntrete m ps rather strange little kind of contretemps between elon mask in the egyptian government over whether ely ends might have built the pyramids or not. was thatjust a bit of..., a sceptical journalist, or not. was thatjust a bit of..., a scepticaljournalist, but was that or not. was thatjust a bit of..., a sceptical journalist, but was that a bit of a publicity stunt to get a bit of a publicity stunt to get a bit more attention on this in case people thought he was bringing aliens back as well as astronauts?|j think aliens back as well as astronauts?” think donald trump as fun on twitter and! think donald trump as fun on twitter and i think elon musk is the same.

he has got himself into hot water quite seriously for some of the things he has said on twitter. i was going to say, he has not learned, but he knows how to wind people up occasionally. i think this was probably a joke. he is an intelligent man. we just pictures their of the mission control at hawthorn in california which is where spacex is based. they are all sitting there behind their consoles wearing masks. right at the very front, at the apex of it all, you will have seen elon musk sitting next to the president of spacex, so kind of like the two leading people there at that company. they have done amazing things over the last ten yea rs done amazing things over the last ten years when you think of how far they have come, to see them doing this now is really quite extraordinary and it is a wake—up car, i have to say, for europe. we have a rocket system, a very good

rocket but it is kind of past its sell by date now. still a fabulous rocket, still puts satellites in space injust the right place rocket, still puts satellites in space in just the right place at that satellite operators want to go, but it is very expensive to operate compared to these vehicles which elon musk is now producing. the purge is going to run for other to bits longer, they are telling us. libby, on the point about the satellite developments and things perhaps starting to date with the technology, british companies were involved in lunches from french guiana and satellites going up on a fairly regular basis, are we now looking for the next stage of that, the next development in terms of telecommunications and the potential of using launches and more commercial companies to do this? after the point jonathan commercial companies to do this? after the pointjonathan has made, spacex was a pretty small company when it started up, getting bigger and bigger now and this will

obviously give it a huge boost, but it is not as though it is bowing. it is very much the entrepreneurial end of the operation rather than what you might call the government supported end. the space industry is always looking for new technology, new developments. the uk space agency is no different and we support companies across the uk in their technology, helping them with funding to develop those early—stage things to see what's coming down the line. one of the great things about exploration and space as a whole is that it forces them to innovate in different ways. when you take something, for example, are printer thatis something, for example, are printer that is being developed in the uk at the moment for use the international space station, when you make that on earth, it is a very big thing and you are not constrained by power, but when you head up to the international space station, you suddenly have to do something which is very small, limited power,

limited mass, you have to make sure it is safe with the crew up there and it forces innovation and a 3d printer has suddenly shrunk and the tech we develop in space spins out back down to everyone on earth so that 3d printer i mentioned, everyone is looking at it and going, well, we never thought we would be able to do that because we have never been forced to look at things and that different way and that is one of the great benefits of all of our investments in space, notjust exploration but all of it. it always brings new technology in unexpected places that helps satellites, everything we rely on on earth but also everything that we use everyday. jonathan, nasa are saying that after an hour after splashdown, they are just trying to get that purging ofany they are just trying to get that purging of any traces of any nasty chemicals down to zero before they open the hatch. prudent and cautious

and presumably very, very sensible, not least with the world watching especially when you are talking about the health of two people as opposed to a bit of cargo. yes, and i have just seen a note also from doug hurley saying we are fine, no rush. it is kind of like that moment where the plane has pulled into the gate and you are all waiting to disembark and you are standing there thinking, come on, open the door, open the door! but they will take their time. there really is no rush at all. just to go back to my point about europe, really, we have seen here elon musk developed this rocket system which is reusable, certainly the lower half of the falcon rocket that he has is reusable. this capsule, as i was saying, also is reusable. europe really needs to get

its act together now if it is going to compete with united states because it is notjust elon musk, it isjeff because it is notjust elon musk, it is jeff besort from amazon because it is notjust elon musk, it isjeff besort from amazon coming, you know, the world's richest man and he can write cheques for fun and he is developing a reusable rocket, to and, you know, if we want to keep launches in europe and stay competitive, then we are going to have to up our game, no doubt about that. there is a new rocket coming in europe which will be cheaper but it will still not be reusable in the way that the falcon is. it is very much a case of elon musk has come in and he really has upset the applecart and he really has upset the appleca rt and people and he really has upset the applecart and people are having to react and having to react fast as well to what he has done because he has, without question, change the conversation about space and jeff bezos has done as well. he keeps his

cards close to his chest, but the last time i was at the kennedy space center, there was an enormous building being built down the road with the name blue origin written on the side and that isjeff bezos's space agency and he is doing some things in that building which we will see in the next year when he brings out a new rocket called the new glen afterjohn glenn, the astronaut. as we talk that, libby, we can talk about the perennial problem of environmental concerns. huge opportunities, of course, in terms of the space programme, but what about the issue of space junk? if the next european rocket also cannot be reused, if this, especially if we are talking about a growing space programme, is this becoming really quite a serious problem? when you talk about space

junk and space debris, we are talking about all the bits that are still orbiting the earth. we all rely on space every single day and those satellites that are up there and it is a very precious place and because of the speeds, because of the energy that is involved, one teeny, tiny piece of debris can cause an entire satellite to be knocked out did happen in the right way with one hitting the other. you mentioned the european rocket, we have regulations in place for many years to minimise space junk really to make sure that everything that is possible to capture is done to that, but we have to keep and i on it. we are seeing now but we have to keep and i on it. we are seeing now many but we have to keep and i on it. we are seeing now many satellites, another thing that spacex are doing is wanting to put thousands of satellites up into space and so it is definitely something that has to be looked at, but we are also developing the technology to try to clean up space. that is a challenge being looked at around the world

including here in the uk, but another thing i think is worth picking up and remembering when you talk about space and the challenges involved, people often consider is it right that we are putting all these things into space, burning all these things into space, burning all these rockets, putting all this carbon into the atmosphere and so on? but in order to monitor our earth's health, in order to monitor climate change, we can only do much of that from space. 50% of the measurements we need to monitor the earth can only be taken from space. we are always looking at ways to reuse things, to make it cleaner, to make it more efficient. as i said, that sort of technology always spins back out into helping people back on earth and without space, we would not know how our planet is doing, we would not know about climate change and be able to target it, so there are many aspects of space as well as the challenges that we have to look at. we are still waiting for the

hatch to be unlocked. it is nowjust approaching 9pm. you are watching bbc news and we are watching pictures coming live from nasa. they are pictures from the gulf of mexico of the crew of the dragon vehicle launched by spacex which was actually, of course, a collaboration with nasa who contracted out to boeing anti—space x. let's have a listen in now to nasa and just to let you know that we are standing by to bring you the rest of the news and we will be here with libby and with jonathan as and we will be here with libby and withjonathan as we wait and we will be here with libby and with jonathan as we wait to and we will be here with libby and withjonathan as we wait to see those two men, bob behnken and doug hurley safely back on earth. bob behnken has got a message out saying they are fine, there is no rush, we're just they are fine, there is no rush, we'rejust going to they are fine, there is no rush, we're just going to take time.

and dragon, the purge is now complete. one more check and we should proceed with hatch opening. 0k, should proceed with hatch opening. ok, good news, thanks. good news indeed, confirmation that the purge is complete and they are just going to do one more test to make sure that all of the fumes of concern are away and that it is safe to open that site hatch and retrieve bob and doug. once again, once that side hatch is opened, our flight surgeon will be the first to say hello, get a quick medical checkup, although based on the reports that the crew have been giving us along the way, it sounds like they are doing great, feeling good and they are pretty

comfortable there inside of dragon. and dragon spacex, we show 0.4 parts for a million, 18 and dragon spacex, we show 0.4 parts fora million, 18 ppb, below limits, we are proceeding with hatch opening. ok, great news, thank you. there is the green light we have been waiting for. in fact, the green light we have been waiting for months at this point. this is our first opportunity to say hello to bob and doug, are favourites as they are now about to egress or exit from

dragon crew endeavour. —— are favourite space dads. this is been about a 19 hourjourney home all starting yesterday as they departed the international space station. this hatch will be manually opened. you're watching bbc news and these are live pictures from nasa of nasa astronauts doug hurley and bob behnken having returned to earth, imminently being removed from their space capsule. there we have the door opening of the spacex dragon capsule which not long ago splashed down just off the coast of florida. the minutes spent two months in the international space station, and these astronauts are stepping out of these astronauts are stepping out of the capsule after a 21 hourjourney from space down to earth.

our science correspondent jonathan amos joins me