SpaceX Crew 2: Key Facts

The SpaceX Crew 2 is the second crewed flight of Crew Dragon spacecraft. It is the third overall crewed orbital flight. Under Crew 2 Mission, NASA and SpaceX together transported four astronauts to the International Space Station.

About Crew 2

• It transported four members from international space agencies and from NASA to the International Space Station.
• It used the same capsule as Demo-2. Demo-2 is also called Endeavour. Endeavour was manufactured and operated by SpaceX. It was used for Commercial Crew Programme of NASA.
• It also used the same booster as that of Crew-1.
• It will dock to the International Docking Adapter on the Harmony Module. Harmony is the utility hub of the International Space Station. It connects the laboratory modules of Europe, United States and Japan.

The firsts in Crew 2 Mission

• It is the first commercial crew mission to fly international partners.
• It is the first reuse of Crew Dragon Spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket on a crew mission.
• It is the first time two commercial crew spacecrafts will be docked to the station at the same time.

Crew-1

• It was the first crewed flight of Crew Dragon spacecraft.
• It was also the first night launch by the United States.
• It was the first operational mission to the International Space Station in the Commercial Crew Programme of NASA.

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Commercial Crew Programme

It is a human space flight programme operated by NASA. It was launched to transport astronauts to and from International Space Station.

SpaceX Dragon

• The Crew 2 Mission used Dragon spacecraft to transport the astronauts. The first maiden flight of Dragon was in 2010. It became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft.
• It was first launched into the orbit by Falcon 9 rocket to resupply the International Space Station.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2021