SpaceX’s Crew-1 launch the first operational flight of its Crew Dragon astronaut taxi to the International Space Station on Nov. 16, 2020. Called Crew-1, this will be the second Crew Dragon mission to carry astronauts, following the successful Crew Dragon Demo-2 test flight in 2019.
Riding on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, will lift off from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:57 AM IST Nov., 14(Nov., 15, 7:49 PM EST), if all goes according to plan.
The astronauts will spend about six months at the International Space Station as members of Expedition 64/65 before returning to Earth with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean in May 2021. Space Curiosity will bring you all the latest updates on the Crew-1 mission here.
Crew-1 Mission Profile
After liftoff, Falcon 9’s first stage will propel the astronauts for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to an altitude of around 75 km (~47 miles). After stage separation, Falcon 9’s second stage takes over for the second part of the flight. Approximately 6 minutes and 7 seconds after second stage engine ignition the second stage engine will shut down (SECO) and the astronauts will be in orbit. 3 minutes and 19 seconds after SECO, Crew Dragon will separate from the second stage and open up its nosecone in order to expose the forward facing Draco thrusters.
Once the Draco thrusters are exposed, Crew Dragon will perform a number of phasing burns to align its orbit with the ISS’ one. After the phasing burns, Crew Dragon will slowly approach the ISS and with the start of proximity operations it will enter the ISS’ Keep Out Sphere. Last but not least, after around 8 hours and 30 minutes, C207 Resilience will autonomously dock to the same docking port as Bob and Doug’s C206 Endeavour.
