Short answers, pulled from the story.
NASA paid up to 80 million dollars for each astronaut seat on the Russian Soyuz vehicle after retiring its Space Shuttle fleet in 2011. The agency needed a new way to transport humans to the International Space Station without relying solely on foreign partners.
The official announcement came on the 27th of May 2020, though weather delays eventually moved the actual liftoff to the 30th of May 2020. Final parachute tests and data reviews pushed the date forward from the initial schedule set by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken received their primary crew designation on the 3rd of August 2018, bringing decades of Shuttle program experience to the table. Both men had already flown three times to space prior to this historic mission while Kjell Lindgren served as the sole backup crew member throughout the preparation phase.
Endeavour splashed down off Pensacola, Florida at 18:48:06 UTC on the 2nd of August 2020 after a total duration of sixty-three days, 23 hours, 25 minutes, and 21 seconds. This marked the first splashdown for NASA astronauts since 1975 and the first in the Gulf of Mexico.
Engineers found higher-than-expected erosion at four points where bolts connect the heat shield to the trunk using tension ties. SpaceX changed the design to include more erosion-resistant materials at those specific tie locations after identifying airflow phenomena not previously predicted.