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SpaceX Crew-2 was the second operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the third overall crewed orbital flight of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission was launched on 23 April 2021 at 09:49:02 UTC, and docked to the International Space Station on 24 April at 09:08 UTC.[2]
_(cropped).jpg) Endeavour approaches the ISS | |
| Names |
|
|---|---|
| Mission type | ISS crew transport |
| Operator | SpaceX |
| COSPAR ID | 2021-030A |
| SATCAT no. | 48209 |
| Mission duration | 199 days, 17 hours, 44 minutes, 13 seconds |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Endeavour |
| Spacecraft type | Crew Dragon |
| Manufacturer | SpaceX |
| Launch mass | 12,055 kg (26,577 lb)[1] |
| Landing mass | 9,616 kg (21,200 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 4 |
| Members | |
| Expedition | Expedition 65 / 66 |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 23 April 2021, 09:49:02 UTC (5:27:17 am EDT)[2] |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1061.2) |
| Launch site | Kennedy, LC‑39A |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | MV GO Navigator |
| Landing date | 9 November 2021, 03:33:15 UTC (10:33:15 am EST) |
| Landing site | Gulf of Mexico, near Pensacola, Florida |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port | Harmony forward |
| Docking date | 24 April 2021, 09:07:55 UTC |
| Undocking date | 21 July 2021, 10:45 UTC |
| Time docked | 88 days, 1 hour, 37 minutes |
| Docking with ISS (relocation)[a] | |
| Docking port | Harmony zenith |
| Docking date | 21 July 2021, 11:36 UTC |
| Undocking date | 8 November 2021, 19:05 UTC[5] |
| Time docked | 110 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes |
 Mission patch  From left: McArthur, Pesquet, Hoshide and Kimbrough | |
SpaceX Crew-2 used the same capsule as Crew Dragon Demo-2 (Endeavour) and launched on the same Falcon 9 booster as SpaceX Crew-1 (B1061.1).
With its return to Earth the evening of 9 November 2021, the mission set a record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crewed spacecraft, 199 days.[6]
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On 28 July 2020, JAXA, ESA and NASA confirmed their astronaut assignments aboard this mission.[7][8]
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Shane Kimbrough, NASAExpedition 65 / 66 Third and last spaceflight | |
| Pilot | K. Megan McArthur, NASA Expedition 65 / 66 Second spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 1 |  Akihiko Hoshide, JAXAExpedition 65 / 66 Third spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 2 |  Thomas Pesquet, ESAExpedition 65 / 66 Second spaceflight | |
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Mission Specialist 1 | Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA | |
| Mission Specialist 2 |  Matthias Maurer, ESA | |
German astronaut Matthias Maurer was the backup for Pesquet, while Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa trained as backup to Hoshide.[8][9]
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The second SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program launched on 23 April 2021.[10][11] The Crew Dragon Endeavour docked to the International Docking Adapter (IDA) at the forward port of the Harmony module. This was the first mission with astronauts on board to use a previously flown booster launch vehicle.[12][13]
All crew members were veteran astronauts, though this was Megan McArthur's first visit to the ISS (as her first spaceflight was STS-125, a mission to the Hubble Space Telescope). McArthur used the same seat on the Crew Dragon Endeavour which her husband, Bob Behnken, used on the Demo-2 mission.[14] Akihiko Hoshide served as the second Japanese ISS commander during his stay.[7] It was the second mission by Thomas Pesquet to the International Space Station and was named Alpha, after Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth.[8]
To prepare for the arrival of a Starliner, the Endeavour docked to ISS at Harmony forward port was undocked at 10:45 UTC and relocated to Harmony zenith port on 21 July 2021, at 11:36 UTC.[a]
With CRS-23, (C208) and Inspiration4 (Resilience), three Dragon spacecraft were in space at the same time, from 16 to 18 September 2021 (UTC).
Timeline
| MET | Time | Date (UTC) |
Event[15] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EDT | UTC | |||
| −6:40:00 | 11:09:00 PM | 03:09:00 | 23 April 2021 |
Crew wake |
| −05:30:00 | 0:19:02 AM | 04:19:02 | CE launch readiness briefing | |
| −05:00:00 | 0:49:02 AM | 04:49:02 | Launch shift on console | |
| −04:59:59 | 0:49:03 AM | 04:49:03 | Dragon IMU align and configure for launch. | |
| −04:30:00 | 1:19:02 AM | 04:19:02 | Dragon propellant pressurization | |
| −04:20:00 | 1:29:02 AM | 04:29:02 | Crew weather brief | |
| −04:10:00 | 1:39:02 AM | 05:39:02 | Crew handoff | |
| −04:00:00 | 1:49:02 AM | 05:49:02 | Suit donning and checkouts | |
| −03:20:00 | 2:29:02 AM | 05:29:02 | Crew walk out of Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building | |
| −03:15:00 | 2:34:02 AM | 05:34:02 | Crew transportation to Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) by Tesla Model X with "RECYCLE" license plate | |
| −02:55:00 | 2:54:02 AM | 06:54:02 | Crew arrives at pad | |
| −02:35:00 | 3:14:02 AM | 07:14:02 | Crew ingress | |
| −02:20:00 | 3:29:02 AM | 07:29:02 | Communication check | |
| −02:15:00 | 3:34:02 AM | 07:34:02 | Verify ready for seat rotation | |
| −02:14:00 | 3:35:02 AM | 07:35:02 | Suit leak checks | |
| −01:55:00 | 3:54:02 AM | 07:54:02 | Hatch close | |
| −01:10:00 | 4:39:02 AM | 08:39:02 | ISS state upload to Dragon | |
| −00:45:00 | 5:04:02 AM | 09:04:02 | SpaceX launch director verifies go for propellant load | |
| −00:42:00 | 5:07:02 AM | 09:07:02 | Crew access arm retracts | |
| −00:38:00 | 5:11:02 AM | 09:11:02 | Dragon launch escape system is armed. | |
| −00:35:00 | 5:14:02 AM | 09:14:02 | RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins; 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins. | |
| −00:16:00 | 5:33:02 AM | 09:33:02 | 2nd stage LOX loading begins. | |
| −00:07:00 | 5:42:02 AM | 09:42:02 | Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch. | |
| −00:05:00 | 5:44:02 AM | 09:44:02 | Dragon transitions to internal power | |
| −00:01:00 | 5:48:02 AM | 09:48:02 | Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks; propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins. | |
| −00:00:45 | 5:48:17 AM | 09:48:17 | SpaceX launch director verifies go for launch. | |
| −00:00:03 | 5:48:59 AM | 09:48:59 | Engine controller commands Merlin engine ignition sequence to start. | |
| 00:00:00 | 5:49:02 AM | 09:49:02 | Liftoff | |
| +00:01:02 | 5:50:04 AM | 09:50:04 | Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the launch vehicle) | |
| +00:02:36 | 5:51:38 AM | 09:51:38 | 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) | |
| +00:02:39 | 5:51:41 AM | 09:51:41 | 1st and 2nd stages separate | |
| +00:02:47 | 5:51:49 AM | 09:51:49 | 2nd stage engine starts | |
| +00:07:27 | 5:56:29 AM | 09:56:29 | 1st stage entry burn | |
| +00:08:47 | 5:57:49 AM | 09:57:49 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) | |
| +00:09:03 | 5:58:05 AM | 09:58:05 | 1st stage landing burn | |
| +00:09:30 | 5:58:32 AM | 09:58:32 | 1st stage landing | |
| +00:11:58 | 6:01:00 AM | 10:01:00 | Crew Dragon separates from 2nd stage | |
| +00:13:02 | 6:02:04 AM | 10:02:04 | Dragon nosecone open sequence begins | |
| +1/ | 3:31 AM | 07:31 | 24 April 2021 |
Dragon starts the final phase of the approach to the ISS.[16] |
| +1/03:33 | 05:08 AM | 09:08 | Soft capture to the ISS.[17] | |
| +1/03:33 | 05:20 AM | 09:20 | Dragon docked to the ISS.[18] | |
| +1/05:34 | 7:15 AM | 11:15 | Hatch opened.[19] | |
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NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Gemini 6; the first song was Hello, Dolly.[20] Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[21]
| Flight Day | Song | Artist | Played for | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | An off-key, all flute comedic cover of A-Ha's "Take On Me", made by YouTube artist "Shittyflute".[22] | A-ha (original) Shittyflute (Cover) |
Thomas Pesquet |
Due to weather delays and a minor health problem with one of the SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts,[23] NASA decided to bring home the Crew-2 astronauts from the ISS before launching Crew-3, thus being the first Crew Dragon indirect handover of space station crews. The Crew Dragon undocked from the station at 19:05 UTC on 8 November 2021 and splashed down off the coast of Florida at 03:33 UTC on 9 November 2021.[5] One of four parachutes deployed slower than the others.[24]
SpaceX Crew-2
Crew-2 astronauts before flight
Launch of Crew-2
Endeavour approaching the ISS
View of the ISS from Endeavour
Crew-2 reentering the atmosphere
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- From an orbital dynamics perspective, the forward port is easier to approach, and therefore, new vehicles use this approach for their first docking. The Boeing Starliner was scheduled to make its first docking on OFT-2 at the end of July 2021; therefore, Crew-2 relocated to the zenith port to clear the forward port for OFT-2.[3][4]
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