SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 - Crew-2 or USCV-2 - Launching April 23, 2021
Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of Dragon Crew-2 - USCV-2
Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 - Crew-2
Written: July 30, 2021
So we’re stuck in this Dragon. Now what?
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour began its second mission Friday with a crew of four astronauts on a long-duration trip to the International Space Station. Liftoff, on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, occurred right on time at 05:49:02 EDT / 09:49:02 UTC on Friday, 23 April 2021.
The Crew-2 mission will see Endeavour carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to join the Expedition 65 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It is the third crewed mission overall for SpaceX and its Crew Dragon vehicle following its Demo-2 flight last year and the Crew-1 mission which remains in orbit.
Crew-2, or USCV-2, will mark the second regular crew rotation mission that is launched on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon C206-2 will carry another four astronauts to the International Space Station for their six months stay. This launch will bump up the number of crew on the ISS to eleven.
Endeavour’s Crew-2 astronauts will replace the Crew-1 astronauts: Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi; and join Russian cosmonauts Pytor Dubrov and Oleg Novitsky, and NASA’s Mark Vende Hei – who arrived aboard Soyuz MS-18 earlier this month – as members of the Expedition 65 crew aboard the International Space Station.
Upon docking, Endeavour’s arrival will mark the second time two Japanese astronauts are aboard the Station together when Aki Hoshide joins Soichi Noguchi, who is part of the soon-to-leave Crew-1 mission.
Shortly arriving at the Station, Aki Hoshide will take command of the outpost, only the second time a Japanese astronaut has commanded the ISS.
Like the Space Shuttle before it, Crew Dragon is reusable – the first reusable human capsule launch and entry system in the world. The Crew-2 mission marks the second flight to orbit for Endeavour, spacecraft C206-2, which flew the historic Demo-2 mission in May 2020 with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert “Bob” Behnken.
Crew-2 marked the second flight for booster B1061-2, which previously launched the Crew-1 mission last November. This was the first time a flight-proven booster was used to launch a Crew Dragon mission.
Following the stage separation from 2nd stage and Endeavour, the booster B1061-2 will conduct an atmosphere re-entry burn and a landing burn and will softly touch down on “Of Course I Still Love You'' positioned 535 km downrange on the Atlantic Ocean.
After the final static fire test at 06:11 EDT on April 17, 2021 on Pad 39A and final check outs, the Falcon 9 rocket will be made ready for launch.
The Crew-2 Dragon Payload
During the historic Demo-2 mission in May 2020 with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert “Bob” Behnken, when in orbit it was revealed that the DM-2 crew named the Crew Dragon C206 “Endeavour .”
Endeavour C206-2 will feature some minor tweaks and changes to some of its systems when compared to itself the C206 Endeavour, which previously supported SpaceX’s Demonstration Mission 2 (DM-2) with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.
After its splashdown on August 2, 2020, SpaceX’s teams found some unexpected erosion on the heat shield and some minor irregularities during parachute deployment. While these irregularities were still inside their safety margins, SpaceX improved their systems.
Endeavour will feature a redesigned heat shield in the area of question and improved barometric sensors.
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-1) and the astronauts will be in orbit.
Endeavour was inserted into an initial 190 x 210 km orbit, after which a series of phasing and rendezvous burns that will take place to bring the spacecraft Endeavour to the Station for a docking on 05:08 EDT (09:08 UTC) on Saturday 24 April.
3 minutes and 19 seconds after SECO, Crew Dragon will separate from the second stage and open up its nose cone in order to expose the 4 forward facing Draco thrusters.
Once the Draco thrusters are exposed, Crew-2 Dragon will perform a number of phasing burns to align its orbit with the ISS’ one. After the phasing burns, Crew-2 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, C206-2 Endeavour with Crew-2 will autonomously dock to the same nadir docking port as DM-2 Bob and Doug’s C206 Endeavour docked with. They should be called IDA-2 and IDA-3, since that is their built number. IDA-1 was lost during the CRS-7 inflight anomaly.
Endeavour is scheduled to relocate from the Node 2 Forward International Docking Adapter IDA-2 to the Node 2 Zenith - IDA-3 on Wednesday, July 21st. This relocation will clear the Node 2 Forward IDA-2 for OFT-2 docking planned for Saturday, July 31st, but now is postponed to an unknown date.
The only thing I didn’t find among the sources was a cargo manifest of, what I presume would be, crew supplies and science experiments in the fragile end.
I found it. A new source. EO portal.
The Dragon Crew-2
Crew-2 dress rehearsal on the walkway towards Crew Dragon “Endeavour“. (Credit: SpaceX)
The crew on this mission is composed of two NASA astronauts, one ESA astronaut and one JAXA astronaut:
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough was born on June 4, 1967 in Killeen, Texas. In 1989, Kimbrough graduated from the United States Military Academy with a B.S. in aerospace engineering. After graduating, he served as a helicopter pilot, flying an Apache in the first Gulf War.
Once Kimbrough graduated from the astronaut training program, he was assigned to the STS-126 mission as a payload specialist. STS-126 launched on November 14, 2008 and delivered supplies to the space station. During the mission, astronauts serviced the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ); Kimbrough successfully performed two EVAs during this repair.
Kimbrough then was part of Expedition 49/50, which launched on October 19, 2016. After the Expedition 49 crew left, he became the commander of the space station. During this four month mission, Kimbrough performed four more spacewalks, preparing for battery upgrades, installation of the second international docking adapter, and upgraded the computer relay boxes.
In July of 2020, Kimbrough was assigned as the commander of the Crew-2 mission.
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur ‘Spacemom’ was born on August 30, 1971 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1993 McArthur graduated from the University of California with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. She then attended Scripps Institution of Oceanography and graduated with a Ph.D in oceanography in 2002.
McArthur was then assigned to the STS-125 Hubble Space Telescope service mission. On this mission she was a payload specialist as well as the lead robotics crew member. McArthur was assigned to the Crew-2 mission in July of 2020.
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet was born on February 27, 1978 in Rouen, Normandy, France. In 2001, Pesquet graduated from the École nationale supérieure de l’aéronautique et de l’espace with a master’s degree in space systems and space vehicle mechanics.
In 2009, he was selected as an ESA astronaut candidate, completing his basic training in 2010. In 2014, Pesquet was assigned to the Soyuz MS-03 to launch Expedition 50/51. In July of 2020 like the rest, Pesquet was assigned to the Crew-2 mission.
JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide was born on December 28, 1968 in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. In 1992 Hoshide graduated from Keio University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Five years later, he graduated with a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering.
Hoshide was assigned to STS-124, delivering part of the Japanese module to the ISS. He was then the flight engineer on Expedition 32/33. On this mission, Hoshide berthed the HTV-3 cargo spacecraft to the ISS. He was assigned to the Crew-2 mission along with everyone else in July of 2020.
When and where do we land the Dragon?
The opportunity for Crew-2 to return to Earth has finally been determined since they are still in orbit on ISS and docked to IDA-3 airlock.
Seven hazard areas for landing Dragon C206-2 - Recovery Location 1 has been chosen
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission now is targeting a return to Earth no earlier than 22:33 EST - 03:33 UTC on Monday, Nov. 8, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at 14:05 EST - 19:05 UTC Monday, Nov. 8, to begin the journey home. Recovery is near the splashdown zone 1 in the Gulf of Mexico.
Endeavour will undock autonomously and perform a fly around maneuver to photograph the exterior of the International Space Station. Once the maneuver is completed, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will aim for a splashdown at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.
Endeavour will after the trunk is jettisoned at 21:34 EST - 02:34 UTC perform its deorbit burn at 21:39 EST - 02:39 UTC and close the nose hatch cover. Then Endeavour will reorient itself with its heat shield forward and enter the Earth's atmosphere. Splash down is expected at 22:33 EST - 03:33 UTC near Pensacola, Florida.
Four minutes before splashdown, the drogue parachutes will deploy at about 18,000 feet in altitude while Crew Dragon is moving approximately 350 miles per hour, and less than a minute later, the main parachutes deploy at about 6,000 feet in altitude while the spacecraft is moving approximately 119 miles per hour.
For normal crew rescue and recovery operations, the NASA and SpaceX teams select two primary splashdown locations from the seven possible locations about two weeks prior to return, with additional decision milestones taking place prior to crew boarding the spacecraft, during free flight, and before Crew Dragon performs a deorbit burn.
NASA and SpaceX closely coordinate with the U.S. Coast Guard to establish a 10-nautical-mile safety zone around the expected splashdown location to ensure safety for the public and for those involved in the recovery operations, as well as the crew aboard the returning spacecraft.
The SpaceX recovery fleet is should be up to the task again with a different LZ or more LZ’s
The return will mark the end of the second crew rotation mission to the International Space Station of the Crew Dragon spacecraft developed in partnership between NASA and SpaceX as a part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Teams on the Go Navigator or other available recovery ships, including two fast boats, will be securing Crew-2 Dragon and ensuring the spacecraft is safe for the recovery effort. As the fast boat teams complete their work, the recovery ship will move into position to hoist Crew Dragon onto the main deck of the ship with the astronauts inside.
Once on the main deck, the crew will be taken out of the spacecraft and receive medical checks before a helicopter ride to Pensacola to board a plane for Houston. Endeavour will also return important and time-sensitive research samples.
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