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2021 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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]
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).
| 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] | |
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]
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