SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 - Crew-1 or USCV-1 - Launching November 15/16, 2020
Screenshot from SpaceX Webcast of the launch of Dragon Crew-1 - USCV-1
Mission Rundown: SpaceX B5 - Crew-1 - USCV-1
Written: July 30, 2021
How to teach your Dragon people skills
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket B1061-1 will lift off at 19:27:17 EST on November 15, 2020 from pad LC-39A, at the Kennedy Space Center, carrying three NASA astronauts and one JAXA astronaut to the ISS. This mission, Crew-1 (USCV-1), will mark SpaceX’s first operational crewed launch as part of the Commercial Crew Program.
Crew-1, or USCV-1, will mark the first regular crew rotation mission that is launched on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon C207 will carry 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 seven. They will join NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov on November 15, just eight and a half hours after launch.
The booster supporting the Crew-1 mission is B1061. This booster is brand new and has not flown yet. Therefore, the launch of Crew-1 on November 15, 2020 will be its maiden flight. As this is the boosters 1st flight, its designation will change to B1061-1.
After its first static fire on April 25, 2020 in McGregor, Texas and following check outs, the booster was sent to Florida where it arrived on July 14, 2020. Another static fire and final check outs will occur 15:50 EST November 11, a few days before the launch.
Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 will conduct 2 burns. These atmosphere re-entry and landing burns will softly touch down the booster on Just Read The Instructions around 535 km downrange.
The Crew Dragon Payload
During a NASA press conference on September 29, 2020, commander Michael Hopkins revealed that the crew named the Crew Dragon (C207) “Resilience.”
Resilience will feature some minor tweaks and changes to some of its systems when compared to C206 Endeavour. Crew Dragon Endeavour 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.
Resilience 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) and the astronauts will be in orbit.
Resilience 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 vehicle to the Station for a docking on Monday, 16 November at 23:00 EST (04:00 UTC on 17 November).
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 Dragon will perform a number of phasing burns to align its orbit with the ISS’ one. After the phasing burns, Crew 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, C207 Resilience will autonomously dock to the same nadir docking port as Bob and Doug’s C206 Endeavour.
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 lighter end. Found it.
The Dragon Crew
The Crew of Crew-1 dress rehearsal in front of Crew Dragon “Resilience“. (Credit: SpaceX)
The crew on this mission is composed of three NASA astronauts and one from JAXA:
NASA astronaut Michael Scott “Mike” Hopkins was born on December 28, 1968 in Lebanon, Missouri, USA. In 1991 he graduated with a BSc in aerospace engineering, followed by an MSc in aerospace engineering in 1992, from Stanford University.
On September 25, 2013, Hopkins launched atop a Soyuz TMA-10M rocket to the ISS, where he stayed for 6 months as part of Expedition 37/38. During his first spaceflight, he spent 166 days on orbit and conducted two spacewalks for a combined time of 12 hours and 58 minutes. He returned to Earth on 10 March 2014.
In August 2018, Hopkins was assigned as Commander for the first regular crewed mission on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the ISS.
NASA astronaut Victor Jerome Glover was born on April 30, 1976 in Pomona, California, USA. He graduated with a BSc in general engineering in 1999, followed by three MSc in flight test engineering (2007), in systems engineering (2009) and in military operational art and science (2010). Glover has no Space flight time before this flight.
In 2013, Glover was selected by NASA as part of the Astronaut Group 21 and finished his training in 2015. Together with Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover was selected as Pilot for the first regular crewed mission on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the ISS.
NASA astronaut Shannon Walker was born on June 4, 1965 in Houston, Texas, USA. She graduated with a BA in Physics (1987), an MSc and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Space Physics (1992 and 1993) from Rice University.
In 2004 Walker started her astronaut training which she finished two years later in 2006. On June 16, 2010, Walker launched atop a Soyuz TMA-19 rocket as part of the expedition 24/25 with a 6 months stay on the ISS.
In contrast to both Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, Shannon Walker was only months before the actual mission assigned to the Crew of Crew-1 as Mission Specialist.
JAXA astronaut Soichi Naguchi was born on April 15, 1965 in Yokohama, Japan. He graduated with a BSc and an MSc in aeronautical engineering (1989 and 1991) and a Doctor of Philosophy in interdisciplinary studies (2020) from the University of Tokyo.
On July 26, 2005 Noguchi took off on board the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of STS-114, that was the “Return to Flight'' mission, following the Spaceshuttle Columbia disaster. On their nearly 14 days mission they docked with the ISS, tested and evaluated new flight safety procedures, orbiter inspection, and repair techniques.
On December 21, 2009 Noguchi took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz TMA-17 on Expedition 22/23. He spent 161 days on board of the ISS, during which three Space Shuttles visited the ISS with supplies and additions to the ISS.
Like Shannon Walker, Soichi Noguchi was assigned only months before the actual mission to Crew-1. With this mission, Noguchi will be the third person to fly on three different orbital vehicles.
Soichi has spent over 177 days in orbit and has conducted three spacewalks with a total EVA time of 20 hours.
At liftoff of Crew-1, Soichi will become the first non-American and the first Japanese person to travel to space on three separate spacecraft: Shuttle, Soyuz, and Crew Dragon.
Two other people in history have flown on as many spacecraft: Wally Schirra (Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo) and John Young (Gemini, Apollo, “Lunar Lander” and Shuttle).
Does the Lunar Lander count as a fourth spacecraft? It’s pressurized, rocket powered and controllable during descent and ascent to and from the Lunar surface. Just thinking.
Where to land the Dragon?
Small date correction and update from NASA: Presently planned opportunity for Crew-1 to return to Earth is May 2, 2021, they will undock at 19:05 EDT May 1 and splashdown off Panama City at 02:56 EDT May 2, 2021.
Seven hazard areas for landing Dragon C207 - Panama City Recovery Location LZ-2 was chosen
Time to play ‘In the Heat of the Night’ and watch the movie too.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, is scheduled to undock from the space station to begin the journey home at 7:05 a.m. EDT Sunday, May 1. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 3:00 a.m. for the splashdown next day, May 2 and conclusion of the 168 day long Crew-1 mission. The return to Earth – and activities leading up to the return – will air live on NASA Television, the NASA App, and the agency’s website.
In advance of departure from the space station, Crew-1 astronaut and current station Commander Shannon Walker of NASA will hand over command of the station to JAXA astronaut and Crew-2 member Akihiko Hoshide during a change of command and farewell event.
The Crew Dragon will autonomously undock, depart the space station, and splash down at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.
Resilience also will return to Earth important and time-sensitive research. 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 secure 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 stretched thin as it is with three different LZ - No Panama City LZ.
Let's see OCISLY w/ B1061-2 en-route back to Florida (ETA Monday-ish), JRTI is en-route to the Starlink LZ, GO Searcher stationed for Atlantic Crew-1 splashdown in, Navigator for a Mexican Gulf Crew-1 splashdown, in Port Canaveral are GO Quest and Shelia Bordelon preparing for Starlink fairing recovery, and GO Quest enroute to Port Morehead (repairs).
Astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker of NASA, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) splashed down safely in the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience in the Gulf of Mexico LZ-2 off the coast of Panama City, Florida, at 2:56 a.m. EDT after 168 days in space.
The return marks the end of the first 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 recovery ship, including two fast boats, now are in the process of securing Crew 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 Go Navigator 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.
