Crew Dragon Demo-1

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Crew Dragon Demo-1
NASA Johnson 3.3-445A2747.jpg
Dragon C204 silhouetted against Earth's horizon, during its approach to the ISS
Names
  • Crew Demo-1
  • SpaceX Demo-1
  • Demonstration Mission-1
Mission type Flight test
Operator SpaceX
COSPAR ID 2019-011A OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
SATCAT no. 44063 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Mission duration6 days, 5 hours, 56 minutes
Orbits completed62
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftCrew Dragon  C204
Spacecraft type Crew Dragon
ManufacturerSpaceX
Launch mass12,055 kg (26,577 lb)
Dry mass6,350 kg (14,000 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date2 March 2019, 07:49:03 (2 March 2019, 07:49:03)  UTC (2:49:03 am  EST)
Rocket Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1051.1)
Launch site Kennedy, LC‑39A
End of mission
Recovered by MV GO Searcher
Landing date8 March 2019, 13:45:08 (8 March 2019, 13:45:08) UTC [1]
Landing site Atlantic Ocean
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Inclination 51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port Harmony forward [2]
Docking date3 March 2019, 10:51 UTC
Undocking date8 March 2019, 07:32 UTC
Time docked4 days, 20 hours, 41 minutes
Crew Dragon Demo-1.png
Mission patch

Crew Dragon Demo-1 (officially Crew Demo-1, SpaceX Demo-1, or Demonstration Mission-1) [lower-alpha 1] was the first orbital test of the Dragon 2 spacecraft. The mission launched on 2 March 2019 [3] [4] at 07:49:03 UTC, and arrived at the International Space Station on 3 March 2019, a little over 24 hours after the launch. The mission ended with a splashdown on 8 March 2019 at 13:45:08 UTC. [5] [6]

Contents

During a separate test, on 20 April 2019, the capsule used on Crew Demo-1 was unexpectedly destroyed when firing the SuperDraco engines at Landing Zone 1. [7]

Mission

The spacecraft tested the approach and automated docking procedures with the International Space Station (ISS), consequent undocking from the ISS, full re-entry, splashdown and recovery steps to provide data requisite to subsequently qualify for flights transporting humans to the ISS. Life support systems were monitored throughout the test flight. [8] The capsule was to be re-used in an in-flight abort test, but it was destroyed in an accident during a static fire test of its SuperDraco thrusters. [7]

The mission was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle contracted by NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Initial plans had hoped to see CCDev2 flights as early as 2015. [9] Demo-1 was eventually slated for no earlier than December 2016, and then delayed several times throughout 2017. [10] [11] [12] The first exact date was published by NASA in November 2018 to be 17 January 2019, [13] but this was delayed until February 2019. [14] The static fire took place on 24 January 2019 and the launch date was set to 23 February 2019. [15] By the end of January 2019, the launch was delayed to no earlier than 2 March 2019 according to a FCC filing by SpaceX for Dragon 2 capsule telemetry, tracking, and command. [3]

Demo-1 passed its Flight Readiness Review (FRR) and Launch Readiness Review (LRR) on 22 February 2019 and 27 February 2019 respectively. [16]

The Falcon 9 with Demo-1 rolled out to the LC-39A on 28 February 2019 at around 15:00 UTC and went vertical a few hours later. [17] The spacecraft was launched on 2 March 2019 at 07:49:03 UTC and docked with the ISS on 3 March 2019 at 10:51 UTC. [18] [19]

The Dragon 2 spacecraft undocked from the ISS on 8 March 2019 at 07:32 UTC. The capsule separated from the trunk, performed its de-orbit burn, entered the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean about 320 km (200 mi) off Florida's east coast later that day at 13:45:08 UTC. [6] The capsule was recovered using SpaceX's recovery ship GO Searcher and was returned to the mainland where it was examined and the data collected by the on board sensors was analyzed. [20] [21]

Payload

Instead of carrying astronauts to the ISS, this flight had an Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) wearing SpaceX's custom flight suit. The ATD is named Ripley, as a homage to Sigourney Weaver's character in the Alien movies franchise. The capsule was weighted similarly to missions with astronauts onboard and carried about 180 kg (400 lb) of supplies and equipment including a "super high tech zero-g indicator" (a plush toy). [22] [23] [24] [2] The "zero-g indicator" was left on board the ISS after undocking, while Ripley returned safely to Earth on 8 March 2019.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This mission has multiple official names. Mission operator SpaceX refers to the mission as "Crew Demo-1", while customer NASA refers to the mission as "SpaceX Demo-1". Unless otherwise noted, this article uses "Demo-1" to refer to this mission.

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References

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  3. 1 2 "Space Exploration Technologies Corp. WF9XGI 0068-EX-ST-2019 FCC Experimental License". FCC. Retrieved 5 February 2019.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
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  5. ↑ SpaceX #CrewDragon Demonstration Flight Return to Earth . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Crew Dragon's inaugural flight to Station concludes with splashdown". NASASpaceFlight.com. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
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  8. ↑ Foust, Jeff (4 February 2016). "SpaceX seeks to accelerate Falcon 9 production and launch rates this year". SpaceNews. Retrieved 21 March 2016. Shotwell said the company is planning an in-flight abort test of the Crew Dragon spacecraft before the end of this year, where the vehicle uses its thrusters to separate from a Falcon 9 launch vehicle during ascent. That will be followed in 2017 by two demonstration flights to the International Space Station, the first without a crew and the second with astronauts on board, and then the first operational mission.
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