SpaceX Crew-1 (was also known as USCV-1 or simply Crew-1) was the first operational crewed flight of a

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Insp ...

spacecraft, and the

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

of the Crew Dragon ''Resilience'' spacecraft. It was also the second crewed orbital flight launch by the United States since that of

STS-135 STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter ''Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 l ...

in July 2011. ''Resilience'' launched on 16 November 2020 at 00:27:17 UTC on a

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pay ...

from Kennedy Space Center

Launch Complex 39A 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, were first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle ...

(LC-39A), carrying NASA

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally ...

Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and

Shannon Walker Shannon Walker (born June 4, 1965) is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010, onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space. She returned to space for ...

along with

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into or ...

astronaut

Soichi Noguchi is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the ''Columbia'' disaster. He was ...

, all members of the

Expedition 64 Expedition 64 was the 64th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), that began on 21 October 2020 with the undocking and departure of Soyuz MS-16. The Expedition started with the three crew members launched onboard Soy ...

crew. The mission was the second overall crewed orbital flight of the Crew Dragon. Crew-1 was the first operational mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

(ISS) in the

Commercial Crew Program 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 ...

. Originally designated "USCV-1" by NASA in 2012, the launch date was delayed several times from the original date of November 2016. The mission was scheduled to depart the ISS on 28 April 2021, but due to weather returned to Earth on 2 May 2021. The capsule splashed down at 06:56:33 UTC, to be reused on

Inspiration4 Inspiration4 (stylized as Inspirati④n) was a 2021 human spaceflight operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. The mission launched the Crew Dragon Crew Dragon Resilience, ''Resilience'' on 16 September 2021 at 00:02: ...

. It was the first nighttime splashdown for NASA astronauts since

Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These t ...

in 1968. On 7 February 2021, the Crew-1 broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crewed vehicle, surpassing the 84-day mark set by an Apollo capsule on the final flight to the

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations i ...

( Skylab-4) space station on 8 February 1974.

Background

The first operational mission in the

, originally designated "USCV-1" (United States Crew Vehicle-mission 1) by NASA, was initially announced in November 2012, with a launch date set for November 2016. In April 2013, it was announced that the launch would be delayed by one year to November 2017. It was then delayed into 2019 and 2020, pending the success of the uncrewed and crewed demonstration missions, respectively. Following the Crew Dragon Demonstration Mission 2, Crew-1 was tentatively scheduled for September 2020; further delays occurred to align with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and their impact on the schedule of ISS crew rotations and cargo delivery missions, and then again because of concerns about an issue with the gas generators on the

Merlin 1D Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin eng ...

engines. On 29 September 2020, mission commander Michael Hopkins revealed during a NASA press conference that the capsule's crew had chosen to name it ''Resilience''. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Florida On March 1, 2020, the U.S. state of Florida officially reported its first two COVID-19 cases, in Manatee and Hillsborough counties. On April 1 Governor Ron DeSantis declared a public health emergency. There is evidence, however, that communit ...

, the

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, and a range of bus tour ...

only allowed a few people to watch the launch in person from the KSC premises.

Crew

NASA astronauts Michael S. Hopkins and

Victor J. Glover Victor Jerome Glover (born April 30, 1976) is a NASA astronaut of the class of 2013 and Pilot on the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station. Glover is a captain in the U.S. Navy where he pilots ...

were announced as the crew on 3 August 2018.

astronaut

and the third NASA astronaut,

, were added to the crew on 31 March 2020.

Preparations

Crew-1's Falcon 9 launch vehicle arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 14 July 2020. Crew Dragon capsule C207 arrived at SpaceX processing facilities in Florida, on 18 August 2020. The successful launch of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle from

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the stat ...

(CCAFS) on 5 November 2020 was a milestone leading up to the Crew-1 mission. Falcon 9 successfully deployed a

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

navigation satellite A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...

( GPS III-04) for the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only independent space force. Along with its sister branch, the U.S. Air Force, the Spa ...

(USSF), confirming that engineers had resolved an issue with

engines that delayed the GPS mission and the Crew-1 flight. The crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center via a NASA Gulfstream jet on 8 November 2020 at 13:53 UTC. A Flight Readiness Review (FRR) convened by NASA officials was scheduled on 10 November 2020 to discuss unresolved technical issues, review the status of launch preparations, and give approval for teams to proceed with the Crew-1 mission. NASA officials gave approval on 10 November 2020 for SpaceX to begin regular crew rotation flights to the International Space Station, signaling a transition from development to operations for the

human-rated Human-rating certification, also known as man-rating or crew-rating, is the certification of a spacecraft or launch vehicle as capable of safely transporting humans. There is no one particular standard for human-rating a spacecraft or launch veh ...

spacecraft. The launch vehicle was lifted to its vertical position on the pad for a test firing of its Merlin-1D main engines on 11 November 2020 at 20:49 UTC. A dry dress rehearsal (DDR) on 12 November 2020 saw the crew put on their pressure suits and climb into ''Resilience''. SpaceX ran a launch readiness review (LRR) on 13 November 2020.

Mission

On 15 November 2020, final pre-launch preparations were completed. The hatch of ''Resilience'' was closed at 22:32 UTC, but reopened briefly after a slight drop in pressure was detected. Troubleshooting the hatch seal led to discovery of a small amount of foreign object debris (FOD) in the seal. The hatch was then closed again, and mission controllers proceeded with the countdown. No further concerns were noted, and on 16 November 2020 at 00:27:17 UTC, ''Resilience'' lifted off successfully. Its Falcon 9 first-stage booster, SN B1061.1, landed on the

autonomous spaceport drone ship An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is an ocean-going vessel derived from a deck barge, outfitted with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform and is autonomously controlled when on station for a landing. Construction of ...

''Just Read the Instructions''. The astronauts entered a stable orbit after about nine minutes. For this mission, the crew had chosen a plush toy of " The Child" (also known as "Baby Yoda") from ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of ''Retur ...

'' as a Zero-G indicator. The crew were awakened on the second day of the flight with

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 an ...

's "

In the Air Tonight "In the Air Tonight" is the debut solo single by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released as the lead single from Collins's debut solo album, ''Face Value'', in January 1981. Collins co-produced "In the Air Tonight" w ...

". ''Resilience'' docked to the

International Docking Adapter The International Docking Adapter (IDA) is a spacecraft docking system adapter developed to convert APAS-95 to the NASA Docking System (NDS). An IDA is placed on each of the International Space Station's (ISS) two open Pressurized Mating Adapt ...

(IDA) on the ''Harmony'' module on 17 November 2020 at 04:01 UTC. Over the course of the mission, the four astronauts lived and worked alongside the three astronauts of the Soyuz MS-17 mission. Together, the two missions form ISS

. Assuming the regular ISS crew rotation schedule is adhered to, the crew transfer to Expedition 65 following the departure of Soyuz MS-17, on 17 April 2021. On 5 April 2021, the Crew-1 astronauts relocated their spacecraft from ''Harmony'' forward to ''Harmony''

zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The zenith is the "highes ...

by using the Draco thrusters that are mounted on the side of Dragon Resilience's trunk, to make way for the arrival and docking of the

SpaceX Crew-2 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 Internationa ...

spacecraft, launched on 23 April 2021. In July 2022, it was reported that some of the debris from Crew 1 Dragon crashed into a farmer's farm in Australia. SpaceX Crew-1 poster

Timeline

Notes

References

{{Orbital launches in 2020 SpaceX Dragon 2 Spacecraft launched in 2020 Spacecraft which reentered in 2021 SpaceX payloads contracted by NASA SpaceX human spaceflights 2020 in the United States 2021 in the United States