- Crew-8 astronauts outside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building
- Crew Dragon Endeavour approaching the ISS
- SpaceX Crew-8 and Expedition 70 crew members aboard the ISS shortly after docking
Names | USCV-8 |
---|---|
Mission type | ISS crew transport |
Operator | SpaceX |
COSPAR ID | 2024-042A |
SATCAT no. | 59097 |
Mission duration | 45 days, 18 hours and 1 minute (in progress) 180 days (planned) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Endeavour |
Spacecraft type | Crew Dragon |
Manufacturer | SpaceX |
Crew | |
Crew size | 4 |
Members | |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 4 March 2024, 03:53 UTC [1] [2] |
Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1083.1) |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A |
Contractor | SpaceX |
End of mission | |
Landing date | August 2024 (planned) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.65° |
Docking with ISS | |
Docking port | Harmony forward [3] |
Docking date | 5 March 2024, 07:28 UTC |
Undocking date | Late April 2024 (planned) |
Time docked | 44 days, 14 hours and 26 minutes (in progress) |
Docking with ISS (Relocation) [lower-alpha 1] | |
Docking port | Harmony zenith |
Docking date | Late April 2024 (planned) |
Undocking date | August 2024 (planned) |
SpaceX Crew-8 mission patch (L–R) Grebenkin,Barratt,Dominick and Epps |
SpaceX Crew-8 is the eighth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight and the 13th overall crewed orbital flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. [4] The mission launched on 4 March 2024. [5]
The Crew-8 mission transports four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Three NASA astronauts,Matthew Dominick,Michael Barratt,and Jeanette Epps,and one Roscosmos cosmonaut,Alexander Grebenkin,were assigned to the mission. Jeanette Epps was previously assigned to Boeing Starliner missions. [6] [7]
Position [8] | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Spacecraft commander | Matthew Dominick,NASA Expedition 70 / 71 First spaceflight | |
Pilot | Michael Barratt,NASA Expedition 70 / 71 Third spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Jeanette Epps,NASA Expedition 70 / 71 First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Alexander Grebenkin,Roscosmos Expedition 70 / 71 First spaceflight |
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Spacecraft commander | Zena Cardman,NASA | |
Pilot | Nick Hague,NASA | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Stephanie Wilson,NASA | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Aleksandr Gorbunov,Roscosmos |
The eighth SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program launched at 3:53 UTC on 4 March 2024. [9] SpaceX sent the 50th astronaut on this Crew Dragon launch. [10]
Following delays due to unfavorable weather conditions in offshore areas of the flight path, [11] [12] the first launch attempt was scrubbed at T−03:25:38 hours due to an elevated ascent winds (times are UTC). [13] [14]
Attempt | Planned | Result | Turnaround | Reason | Decision point | Weather go (%) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 Mar 2024,4:16:00 am | Scrubbed | — | Elevated ascent winds | 3 Mar 2024,12:51 am (T-03:25:38) | 40 [15] | |
2 | 4 Mar 2024,3:53:00 am | Success | 0 days,23 hours,37 minutes | 75 [16] |
Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was first designed to accommodate the Saturn V launch vehicle. Typically used to launch NASA's crewed spaceflight missions since the late 1960s, the pad was leased by SpaceX and has been modified to support their launch vehicles.
The Boeing Starliner is a class of two partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing, with the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) of NASA as the anchor customer. The spacecraft consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module.
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by American space company SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX also launches private missions, such as Inspiration4 and Axiom Space Missions. There are two variants of the Dragon spacecraft: Crew Dragon, a spacecraft capable of ferrying four crewmembers, and Cargo Dragon, a replacement for the original Dragon 1 used to carry freight to and from space. The spacecraft consists of a reusable space capsule and an expendable trunk module. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and the capsule returns to Earth through splashdown.
Crew Dragon Demo-1 was the first orbital test of the Dragon 2 spacecraft. The mission launched on 2 March 2019 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 following a successful splashdown on 8 March 2019 at 13:45:08 UTC.
Crew Dragon Demo-2 was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named Endeavour, launched on 30 May 2020 on a Falcon 9 rocket, and carried NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station in the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011, and the first ever operated by a commercial provider. Demo-2 was also the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since STS-4 in 1982. Demo-2 completed the validation of crewed spaceflight operations using SpaceX hardware and received human-rating certification for the spacecraft, including astronaut testing of Crew Dragon capabilities on orbit.
Boeing Starliner-1 also called Post Certification Mission-1 (PCM-1) is planned to be the first operational crew mission of the Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Commercial Crew Program. It would be the fourth orbital flight mission of the Starliner overall. It is scheduled to launch no earlier than early 2025, transporting members of a future ISS Expedition.
SpaceX Crew-1 was the first operational crewed flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the maiden flight of the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. It was also the second crewed orbital flight launch by the United States since that of STS-135 in July 2011. Resilience launched on 16 November 2020 at 00:27:17 UTC on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all members of the Expedition 64 crew. The mission was the second overall crewed orbital flight of the Crew Dragon.
The Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 was a repeat of Boeing's unsuccessful first Orbital Flight Test (OFT-1) of its Starliner spacecraft. The uncrewed mission was part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2, using Starliner Spacecraft 2, launched 19 May 2022 and lasted 6 days. Starliner successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on 21 May 2022. It stayed at the ISS for 4 days before undocking and landing in the White Sands Missile Range on 25 May 2022.
Axiom Mission 1 was a privately funded and operated crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was operated by Axiom Space out of Axiom's Mission Control Center MCC-A in Houston, Texas. The flight launched on 8 April 2022 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft used was a SpaceX Crew Dragon. The crew consisted of Michael López-Alegría, an American born in Spain and a professionally trained astronaut hired by Axiom, Eytan Stibbe from Israel, Larry Connor from the United States, and Mark Pathy from Canada.
The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides commercially operated crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between the expeditions of the International Space Station program. American space manufacturer SpaceX began providing service in 2020, using the Crew Dragon spacecraft, and NASA plans to add Boeing when its Boeing Starliner spacecraft becomes operational no earlier than 2025. NASA has contracted for six operational missions from Boeing and fourteen from SpaceX, ensuring sufficient support for ISS through 2030.
Launch America is a public–private partnership between the United States and multiple space companies, closely related to the NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The term "Launch America" was used as early as May 2016. The initiative aims to end the NASA's reliance on the Russian space agency by developing launch systems that can carry crews to space from American soil.
Crew Dragon Resilience is a Crew Dragon spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX and built under NASA's Commercial Crew Program. In November 2020, it was launched into orbit to the International Space Station as part of the Crew-1 mission. With crew prompting, Resilience docked autonomously to the station at 04:01 UTC on 17 November 2020, or Day 2 of the mission, marking the first operational docking of a Crew Dragon and the first operational docking of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission carried four additional members of Expedition 64 to the three already on station.
Crew Dragon Endeavour is a Crew Dragon space capsule manufactured and operated by SpaceX and used by NASA's Commercial Crew Program. As of 2024 it has successfully completed four crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS), and is currently conducting a fifth. It was first launched into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket on 30 May 2020 and successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission. This was the first crewed flight test of a Dragon capsule, carrying Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on first crewed orbital spaceflight from the United States since STS-135 in July 2011 and the first crewed orbital spaceflight by a private company. On 2 August 2020 it returned to Earth. The spacecraft was named by Hurley and Behnken after the Space ShuttleEndeavour, aboard which they first flew into space during the STS-127 and STS-123 missions, respectively. The name Endeavour is also shared by the command module of Apollo 15. The spacecraft's second mission, Crew-2, ended 8 November 2021 after having spent almost 200 days in orbit. Crew Dragon Endeavour set the record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crew vehicle previously set by her sibling Crew Dragon Resilience on 2 May 2021. Collectively, Endeavour has spent over 450 days in orbit the most time so far by a crewed spacecraft, surpassing Space Shuttle Discovery.
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.
SpaceX Crew-3 was the Crew Dragon's third NASA Commercial Crew operational flight, and its fifth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission successfully launched on 11 November 2021 at 02:03:31 UTC to the International Space Station. It was the maiden flight of Crew Dragon Endurance.
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Crew-8 will dock to the forward-facing port of the Harmony module