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SpaceX Crew-3

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SpaceX Crew-3
Endurance docked at the ISS
NamesUSCV-3
Mission typeISS crew transport
OperatorSpaceX
COSPAR ID2021-103A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.49407Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration176 days, 2 hours, 39 minutes, 52 seconds
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftCrew Dragon Endurance
Spacecraft typeCrew Dragon
ManufacturerSpaceX
Launch mass12,055 kg (26,577 lb)[1]
Crew
Crew size4
Members
ExpeditionExpedition 66/67
Start of mission
Launch dateNovember 11, 2021, 02:03:31 (2021-11-11UTC02:03:31Z) UTC (November 10, 9:03:31 pm EDT)
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5 B1067-2
Launch siteKennedy, LC‑39A
End of mission
Recovered byMV Shannon
Landing dateMay 6, 2022, 04:43:23 (2022-05-06UTC04:43:24Z) UTC (12:43:23 am EDT)[2]
Landing siteGulf of Mexico, near Clearwater, Florida
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Inclination51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking portHarmony forward
Docking dateNovember 11, 2021, 23:32 UTC
Undocking dateMay 5, 2022, 05:20 UTC[2][3]
Time docked174 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes

NASA (left),[4] SpaceX (middle), and ESA (right) mission patches

From left: Chari, Marshburn, Maurer and Barron

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 November 11, 2021, at 02:03:31 UTC to the International Space Station.[5] It was the maiden flight of Crew Dragon Endurance.[6]

This launch brought the total number of humans who have been to space to more than 600 with Maurer (600) and Barron (601).[7]

Name

[edit]

Crew Dragon capsules have been given names by their initial crews — Endeavour for the first, and Resilience for the second. On October 7, 2021, it was announced that the third capsule will be called Endurance.[8] The name honors the SpaceX and NASA teams that endured through a pandemic, building the spacecraft and training the astronauts who flew it.[9] The name also honors Endurance, the ship used by Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The three-masted vessel sank in 1915 after being bound in ice before reaching Antarctica.[10]

Crew

[edit]

German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer was selected first for the mission in September 2020.[11][12][13] NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Thomas Marshburn were added on December 14, 2020, to the crew.[14][15] The fourth seat was left open in anticipation that a Russian cosmonaut would take the seat, marking the beginning of a barter agreement that would see NASA and Roscosmos trade seats on the Soyuz and Commercial Crew Vehicles, although in April 2021 then-acting NASA administration Steve Jurczyk said that this agreement would be unlikely to start until after Crew-3 had launched.[16] The fourth seat was assigned to Kayla Barron in May 2021.[17]

Chari is the first rookie astronaut to command a NASA space mission since the Skylab 4 crew blasted off to the Skylab space station in 1973. Gerald Carr, who had not flown in space before, led a three-man crew on an 84-day flight on the Skylab.[18] This was also the first spaceflight for Maurer and Barron.[19]

Prime crew
Position Astronaut
Commander United States Raja Chari, NASA
Expedition 66/67
First spaceflight
Pilot United States Thomas Marshburn, NASA
Expedition 66/67
Third and last spaceflight
Mission specialist Germany Matthias Maurer, ESA
Expedition 66/67
First spaceflight
Mission specialist United States Kayla Barron, NASA
Expedition 66/67
First spaceflight
References:[20][21][12][14][15][17]
Backup crew
Position Astronaut
Commander United States Kjell N. Lindgren, NASA
Pilot United States Robert Hines, NASA
Mission specialist Italy Samantha Cristoforetti, ESA
Mission specialist United States Stephanie Wilson, NASA
References:[22][23][24]

The first astronauts of this NASA Astronaut Group 22 (nicknamed The Turtles) to fly to space, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron on SpaceX Crew-3 took a stuffed turtle as zero-g indicator to pay a tribute to their astronaut group.[25] Additionally, to include the other crew members on board, Matthias Maurer and Tom Marshburn the turtle was named "Pfau", a German word meaning "Peacock" for Matthias Maurer, who is German, and for Tom Marshburn, who was part of NASA Astronaut Group 19 (nicknamed The Peacocks).[26]

Mission

[edit]

The third SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program was originally scheduled to launch on October 31, 2021.[27] However, it was delayed to November 3, 2021, due to unfavorable weather in the Atlantic Ocean,[28] and then further delayed to November 7, 2021, due to a minor medical issue with one of the astronauts.[29] Due to expected bad weather, it was again delayed to November 9, 2021.[30]

Due to the launch delays, NASA decided to return the astronauts from Crew-2 before Crew-3 launched, thus being the first Crew Dragon indirect handover of space station crews.[31] SpaceX Crew-2 departed the station on November 8, 2021, and splashed down on November 9, 2021. SpaceX Crew-3 mission launched from Cape Canaveral on November 11, 2021, at 02:03:31 UTC.[32]

The return of Crew-3 was delayed multiple times, from April 2022 to early May. Undocking happened on May 5 (05:20 UTC), with splashdown occurring the following day after spending 176 days in space.[33]

The European segment of the mission is called "Cosmic Kiss".[34]

[edit]
SpaceX Crew-3
  • The Crew-3 astronauts stand beneath a Falcon 9 rocket at a countdown dress rehearsal.
    Crew-3 astronauts during dress rehearsals
  • Crew Dragon Endurance with the Crew-3 astronauts aboard launches atop a Falcon 9 rocket launches from LC-39A.
    Launch of Crew-3
  • refer to caption
    Crew Dragon Endurance approaches the ISS
  • Crew Dragon Endurance streaks across the night sky as it reenters Earth's atmosphere.
    Crew-3 reenters the atmosphere
  • refer to caption
    Crew Dragon Endurance on MV Shannon after splashdown
  • refer to caption
    Crew-3 astronauts after splashdown

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Dragon Endurance". NASA. November 14, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021. Mass: 12055 kg
  2. ^ a b Kelvey, Jon (May 2, 2022). "Nasa's Crew-3 astronauts set to return to Earth this week". The Independent. Retrieved May 3, 2022. Nasa's head of human spaceflight Kathy Lueders said the space agency aims to have the Crew-3 astronauts undock from the ISS in their Crew Dragon spacecraft around pm EDT on Wednesday 4 May, with a splashdown off the Florida coast to follow on 5 May.
  3. ^ Kanayama, Lee (April 27, 2022). "Crew Dragon Freedom makes its first docking at the ISS on the Crew-4 mission". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved May 3, 2022. This handover is expected to be complete by May 4, when Endurance is slated to depart the ISS, however this timeline will be contingent on recovery weather conditions.
  4. ^ Manchess, Gregory (May 19, 2021). "SpaceX Dragon Crew 3 Patch Design". Muddy Colors. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
  5. ^ "SpaceX debuts new Dragon capsule in launch to the International Space Station". Spaceflight Now. November 11, 2021.
  6. ^ Clark, Stephen. "Astronauts choose 'Endurance' as name for new SpaceX crew capsule – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  7. ^ Roulette, Joey (November 10, 2021). "More than 600 human beings have now been to space". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2021. They've tipped the number of people to have gone to space to over 600, according to a tally maintained by NASA
  8. ^ NASA's SpaceX Crew1 Post-Splashdown Briefing. NASA Video. May 2, 2021. Archived from the original on October 10, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via YouTube. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. ^ Wall, Mike (October 7, 2021). "Meet "Endurance": New SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule gets a name". Space.com. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  10. ^ "Astronauts choose "Endurance" as name for new SpaceX crew capsule". Spaceflight Now. October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  11. ^ Brown, Mike (October 1, 2020). "SpaceX and NASA Detail a Packed 12 months for Crew Dragon: What to Know". Inverse. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Becker, Joachim Wilhelm Josef (November 13, 2020). "Spaceflight mission report: SpaceX Crew-3". Space Facts. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  13. ^ Crewed Spaceflight Tweets [@MannedTweets] (September 8, 2020). "BREAKING NEWS ‼ Michal Vaclavik, Czech representative at ESA: Now baked at ESA. It is clear that ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will fly on Crew-2, but we have now agreed that another ESA astronaut, Matthias Maurer, will fly to Crew-3 in September 2021. @ShuttleAlmanac https://t.co/lQ7LPYfaDp" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ a b Potter, Sean (December 14, 2020). "NASA, ESA Choose Astronauts for SpaceX Crew-3 Mission to Space Station". NASA. Retrieved December 14, 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  15. ^ a b Clark, Stephen (December 29, 2020). "Three astronauts assigned to Crew Dragon mission in late 2021". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  16. ^ Clark, Stephen. "NASA chief: Russian cosmonauts unlikely fly on U.S. crew capsules until next year". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved April 24, 2021..
  17. ^ a b "Kayla Barron Joins NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 Mission to Space Station". NASA. May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  18. ^ "Raja Chari is the first rookie astronaut in 48 years to command a NASA mission". Spaceflight Now. November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  19. ^ "SpaceX launches mostly-rookie Crew-3 mission to ISS". nasaspaceflight.com. November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  20. ^ "JSR 799 draft". Jonathan's Space Report. November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  21. ^ "NASA assigns astronauts for third SpaceX commercial crew mission". SpaceNews. December 14, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  22. ^ Whiting, Melanie (March 7, 2016). "Kjell N. Lindgren (M.D.) NASA Astronaut". NASA. Retrieved May 7, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  23. ^ "Robert Hines NASA Astronaut". NASA. April 26, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  24. ^ Marshburn, Thomas [@AstroMarshburn] (June 12, 2021). "Had a great week in Cologne, Germany, home of our crewmate @astro_matthias Our backup, @Astro_Stephanie joined us for our final training trip to the European Space Agency before we launch this fall! https://t.co/Zn8TaDn9NK" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ "SpaceX Crew-3". Twitter. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  26. ^ "Crew-3 Mission". YouTube. November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  27. ^ Sempsrott, Danielle (October 19, 2021). "NASA, SpaceX Adjust Next Crew Launch Date to Space Station". NASA. Retrieved October 20, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  28. ^ Sempsrott, Danielle (October 30, 2021). "NASA, SpaceX Adjust Next Space Station Crew Rotation Launch Date". NASA. Retrieved October 30, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  29. ^ "SpaceX's Crew-3 astronaut launch for NASA delayed by "minor medical issue"". Space.com. November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  30. ^ "NASA rules out weekend Crew Dragon launch, may bring station crew home first". Spaceflight Now. November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  31. ^ "SpaceX crew launch bumped to next week; astronaut on mend". Associated Press. AP News. November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  32. ^ "Forum Crew-3". NASASpaceFlight.com. November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  33. ^ Mike Wall (May 3, 2022). "SpaceX's Crew-3 astronaut mission will return to Earth early Friday morning". Space.com. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  34. ^ "ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer officially assigned first flight". esa.int. ESA. December 14, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
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