Photo of Dragon Crew-6 - USCV-6 seen here at sunset on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A
Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 - Crew-6 - USCV-6
Written: March 2, 2023 - Edit: September 4, 2023
On the sixth Dragon
For the sixth time, SpaceX will launch astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket for the Commercial Crew Program.
B1078-1 will lift off on Thursday March 2, 2023 at 00:34 EST from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA.
Notam with B1078-1 flight path and position of Just Read The Instruction 550 km downrange
SpaceX’ crewed flights have ranged from commercial astronauts to private citizens. As of Crew-6, SpaceX will have launched nine missions with humans onboard.
These include the six commercial crew program missions, Demonstration Mission-2, Inspiration 4, and Axiom 1 which visited the ISS. The total number of humans launched by SpaceX, upon successful completion of Crew-6, wil total 34 individuals.
After a 24 hour trip to the station, Endeavour will approach ISS directly on Friday March 3, 2023 from 00:10 EST - 05:10 UTC intending a docking with the Harmony module zenit port IDA-3/PMA-3 at 05:43 UTC. Hard capture docking performed at 06:51:40 UTC.
Hook 5 was faulty so the docking was delayed. The astronauts will perform leak checks in the docking mechanism and vestibule before the hatch opening 90 minutes later.
Crew-6 is the sixth regular crew rotation mission to the ISS to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The four astronauts will stay on ISS for about six months.
Only a few days after the arrival of Crew-6, the Crew-5 astronauts currently aboard the ISS: Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata and Anna Kikina, will prepare to depart from ISS and return to Earth.
Crew-6 will join the leaking ‘MS-22’ crew now transferred to MS-23 cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio, bringing the total crew members aboard to the station to 11 prior to departure of Crew-5.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft being used on this mission is Crew Dragon C206-4. This is the fourth flight of Endeavour, and it will also be the fourth time since DM-2 in May 2020 that SpaceX uses a new Falcon 9 rocket.
Per current SpaceX plans, no more Crew Dragon will be built though Cargo Dragons will continue to be built. Endurance C210, Endeavour C206, Freedom C212, and Resilience C207 will be refurbished and reflown in turn as part of the Crew Dragon fleet.
Like the Space Shuttle before it, Crew Dragon 2 is reusable – the first reusable human capsule launch and reentry system in the world. Mercury, Gemini and Apollo were all built to be used one time and are now museum pieces on display.
Since its maiden flight, Dragon 2 has flown 18 times; nine crewed and nine uncrewed.
The booster supporting the Crew-6 mission is B1078. As this is the booster’s first time to fly a mission, B1078 has been given the designation B1078-1.
After the final static fire test at 05:45:17 EST on February 24, 2023 on Pad 39A and after the final check outs, the Falcon 9 rocket will be made ready for launch.
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.
Following the stage separation from 2nd stage and Endeavour, the booster B1078-1 will conduct a 30 second atmosphere re-entry burn and a landing burn and will touch down on Just Read The Instruction positioned 546 km downrange on the Atlantic Ocean.
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 is inserted into an initial 190 x 210 km parking orbit, after which a series of phasing and rendezvous burns will take place to bring the spacecraft Endeavour to the Station for a docking scheduled on 00:43 EST (05:43 UTC) on Friday, March 3.
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 forward Draco thrusters are exposed, Crew-6 Dragon will perform a number of phasing burns to align its orbit with the ISS orbit. After the phasing burns, Crew-6 Dragon will slowly approach the ISS and with the start of proximity operations it will enter the ISS’ Keep Out Sphere. Hard docking was delayed to 06:51:40 UTC.
Last but not least, after around 25 hours and 17 minutes, C206-4 Endeavour with Crew-6 will dock at the ‘Zenit’ International Docking Adaptor – IDA port. 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.
The Crew-6 Dragon Science Payload
Hundreds of experiments will be carried out by the Crew-6 astronauts on board the ISS, ranging from biomedical experiments to material science experiments to technology and artificial intelligence testing. This is a handful of the experiments that will be done during the Crew-6 mission.
During their time on the orbiting international laboratory, the crew will conduct over 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations in areas such as life and physical sciences to advanced materials, technology development, in-space production applications, and even student-led research.
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.
The Dragon Crew-6
Crew-6 during dress rehearsal in the access arm leading to Crew Dragon. (Credit: SpaceX)
The Crew-6 is two NASA astronauts, one Cosmonaut and one Emirat astronaut:
NASA astronaut Commander Stephen Bowen was born on February 13, 1964, in Cohasset, Massachusetts, USA where he attended high school.
He quickly pursued a love for engineering by acquiring his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and, later, his Master of Science in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program.
Bowen worked for the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and also served as a Reactor and Propulsion inspector for the Navy’s Submarine Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). This prior experience made him the first Submarine Officer selected by NASA as a mission specialist.
No foe to spaceflight, Bowen has completed three prior trips to space, all on the Space Shuttle. These three missions include STS-126, STS-132, and STS-133; the last shuttle landed March 8, 2011.
As of the launch of Crew-6, Stephen Bowen has clocked over 47 days in space.
NASA astronaut Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is no foe to adventure. Woody is an avid rock climber, mountaineer, and pilot.
Hoburg obtained a degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later, a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
In June 2017, Hoburg was selected to be an astronaut and trained as an Astronaut Candidate. Hoburg is a rookie since Crew-6 will be his first trip to space.
Fun Fact: NASASpaceFlight accidentally called Hoburg a ‘Wookie’ not a Rookie.
ROSCOSMOS Cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev was born on February 26, 1981, and will be launching a few days after he turns 42. He attended Balashov Military Aviation School where he earned a degree in air transport and air traffic control.
He joined the Russian Air Force in the 317th mixed aviation segment, logging over 500 hours in Russian aircrafts.
In 2012, Fedyaev was selected as a cosmonaut. Crew-6 will be his first flight to space.
UAE mission specialist astronaut Sultan Alneyadi was born on May 23, 1981, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. After his primary and secondary schooling, Al Neyadi joined the UAE Armed Forces, just like his father.
Al Neyadi first studied at the University of Brighton in Britain to earn a Bachelor’s of Science in Electronic and Communications Engineering. Once arriving back in the UAE, he spent a year at Zayed Military College.
By 2011, Al Neyadi received his master’s in Information and Networks Security from Griffith University in Australia.
Sultan Al Neyadi is one of two astronauts selected from 4,022 for the UAE. The other astronaut is Hazzah Al Mansouri who already launched to space on Soyuz MS-15.
Crew-6 will be Sultan Al Neyadi's first trip to space.
Where to land the Dragon?
An opportunity for Crew-6 to return to Earth has been determined. They are still in orbit on ISS and docked to IDA-2 now known as IDA-F airlock - F for Forward.
NASA’s Crew-6 mission now is targeting a return to Earth with a planned undocking at 07:05 EDT - 11:05 UTC on Saturday, September 3, 2023.
Actual undocking burn one was executed in the video at 21:46 and observed on my PC clock to be performed at 07:05:38 EDT - 11:05:38 UTC. Signal lag time is unknown.
Crew-7 arrived on October 27, 2023, with a fresh crew of four who will carry out a handover with Crew-6. Once this is complete, Endeavour will undock and return to Earth with its astronauts after a 6-month stay aboard ISS.
While trying to calculate the exact departure burn seen at 21:46 with a screenshot of the display. It’s evident that the departure burn must have been performed at 11:04:04 UTC. What’s up Doc?
Seven hazard areas for landing Dragon C206-4 Endeavour - Recovery Location 7 has been chosen
The Crew Dragon Endeavour 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. Recovery is fixed at the splashdown zone 7 northeast of Jacksonville in the Atlantic Ocean.
Endeavour will after the trunk is jettisoned perform its deorbit burn September 3/4, 2023 at 23:15 EDT − 03:15 UTC and close the nose hatch cover. Then Endeavour will reorient itself with its heat shield forward and enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Splashdown is scheduled to occur September 4, 2023 at 00:17 EDT − 04:17 UTC.
A countdown clock on the center screen reached T-55:00 minutes at video time 23:09 and will help establish the exact splashdown time to the second − 04:17:00 UTC should be reached at 1:18:09 video time mark.
Splashdown occurred at 1:18:19 video time mark which is equal to 04:17:10 UTC.
Four minutes before splashdown, the drogue parachutes will deploy at about 18,000 feet − 5486 meters in altitude while Endeavour is moving approximately 350 miles per hour − 563 Km/h, and less than a minute later at the 1:15:09 video time mark, the main parachutes deploy at about 6,000 feet − 1829 meters in altitude while the spacecraft is moving approximately 119 miles per hour − 191.5 Km/h.
Finally at splashdown Endeavour will descend at 15 miles per hour − 24.1 Km/h.
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 Endeavour performs a deorbit burn.
NASA and SpaceX coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard established 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 spacecraft.
The return will mark the end of the sixth 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 recovery ship Megan, including two fast boats, will be securing Crew-6 Endeavour 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 Endeavour 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 short helicopter ride to Cape Canaveral for a later boarding the plane bound for Houston. Endeavour will also return time-sensitive research samples.
Re-edited March 12, 2024
The discarded Dragon trunk from the Crew-6 mission, jettisoned on September 4, is in a 402 x 409 km x 51.3 deg orbit. 5 months later it reentered on February 4, 2024 over an unknow area.
The apogee of 402 km in this orbit wasn't a contributing factor in deorbiting the Dragon trunk section. It is after all a BIG barrel or dustbin, so maybe it should be rebuilt as a space debris hunter/gatherer collecting space junk.
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