The Crew Dragon used on this Demo mission could technically remain on orbit for over 200 days, but the purpose of this mission was not originally intended to be staffing the International Space Station, though that’s now part of the plan as a sort of stretch goal. Which, it turns out, is actually going to be longer than originally planned: NASA says the mission will last anywhere between 30 days and 119 days, depending on a few different factors, the most significant of which being how quickly the agency ends up being able to launch the first operational Commercial Crew mission, Crew-1, which will carry four astronauts, including two from NASA and one from Japan’s space agency.

As noted during today’s press briefings, a big chunk of the actual human rating process occurs during this final mission - in fact, the majority of the actual final human rating happens on this flight, despite the many years of preparation and live tests to date, including the Demo-1 mission, which was essentially a full round-trip flight, just without any astronauts on board.Įven though it’s technically a demonstration, the stakes couldn’t be higher - SpaceX has a lot to prove here, and it bears the utmost responsibility in terms of keeping Behnken and Hurley safe for the duration of the mission. This is the capstone demonstration in a series of such missions that will fully human-rate the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 for operational use. The first thing to note about this mission is that it’s still technically a test, as noted in the “demo” name. On Friday, representatives from both SpaceX and NASA briefed the media on the mission and the specifics of what it will involve when astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley board the Crew Dragon for its debut crewed performance. The mission will be the first-ever launch for SpaceX with humans on board, and for NASA, it’ll mark the first return to U.S.-based astronaut launches since the Shuttle program flew its last flight in 2011. These integrated spacecraft, rockets and associated systems will carry up to four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximize time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory.NASA and SpaceX’s most defining moment of our current space era is coming up at the end of this month, with its Demo-2 mission on May 27. NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to transport crew to the International Space Station from the United States. The goal is to have safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and foster commercial access to other potential low-Earth orbit destinations.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program has worked with several American aerospace industry companies to facilitate the development of U.S. Learn more about station activities by following on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts. More details about the mission and NASA’s commercial crew program can be found by following the commercial crew blog, and commercial crew on Facebook. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission launched April 23 on a Falcon 9 rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked to the space station April 24. NASA will continue to provide live coverage until Endeavour splashes down off the coast of Florida and the Crew-2 astronauts are recovered from the Gulf of Mexico. Fly around nadir to forward burnģ:39 p.m. The return timeline with approximate times in EST is:ģ:17 p.m. Once the maneuver is completed, additional engine burns will send the spacecraft out of the vicinity of the station and put the Crew Dragon spacecraft on an orbital track that will return the astronaut crew and its cargo safely to the path to its intended splashdown off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.Ĭrew Dragon Endeavour will autonomously execute the departure burns to begin the flight home. EST to complete a nearly six-month science mission.Įndeavour will conduct a series of burns to perform a fly around maneuver to photograph the exterior of the International Space Station. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet inside undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 2:05 p.m. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour as it undocks from the International Space Station.

Dragon trunk jettison