Crew Dragon Demo-2

Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially Crew Demo-2, SpaceX Demo-2, or Demonstration Mission-2) was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named Endeavour, launched on 30 May 2020 on a Falcon 9 rocket, and carried NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station in the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011, and the first ever operated by a commercial provider. Demo-2 was also the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since STS-4 in 1982. Demo-2 completed the validation of crewed spaceflight operations using SpaceX hardware and received human-rating certification for the spacecraft, including astronaut testing of Crew Dragon capabilities on orbit.

Crew Dragon Demo-2
Clockwise from top to bottom: Falcon 9 launches Endeavour from LC-39A, Endeavour approaches the ISS, Splashdown and recovery of Endeavour
NamesCrew Demo-2
SpaceX Demo-2
Demonstration Mission-2
Mission typeISS crew transport
OperatorSpaceX
COSPAR ID2020-033A
SATCAT no.45623
Mission duration63 days, 23 hours and 25 minutes (achieved)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftCrew Dragon Endeavour
Spacecraft typeCrew Dragon
ManufacturerSpaceX
Launch mass12,519 kg (27,600 lb)
Landing mass9,616 kg (21,200 lb)
Crew
Members
ExpeditionExpedition 63
Start of mission
Launch date30 May 2020, 19:22:45 UTC
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5 (B1058.1)
Launch siteKennedy Space Center, LC-39A
ContractorSpaceX
End of mission
Recovered byGO Navigator
Landing date2 August 2020, 18:48:06 UTC
Landing siteGulf of Mexico
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Inclination51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking portHarmony forward
Docking date31 May 2020, 14:27 UTC
Undocking date1 August 2020, 23:35 UTC
Time docked62 days, 9 hours, 8 minutes

NASA (left) and SpaceX (right) insignia

Behnken (left) and Hurley (right)
 

Docking was autonomously controlled by the Crew Dragon, but monitored by the flight crew in case manual intervention became necessary. The spacecraft soft docked with the International Space Station on 31 May 2020, nineteen hours after launch. Following soft capture, 12 hooks were closed to complete a hard capture 11 minutes later. Hurley and Behnken worked alongside the crew of Expedition 63 for 62 days, including four spacewalks by Behnken with fellow American astronaut Chris Cassidy to replace batteries brought up by a Japanese cargo vehicle. Endeavour autonomously undocked from the station on 1 August 2020 and thirteen hours later returned the astronauts to Earth in the first water landing by astronauts since 1975.

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