On November 16th at 00:27 UTC, a SpaceX Crew Dragon named Resilience took off from LC 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Before we get into the details, check out this mission patch. A fierce-looking blue dragon is featured prominently, with a depiction of the Crew Dragon and the number “one” among a scattering of stars superimposed on the dragon. “The spacecraft is flying from the bottom left toward the top right, representing ascent and insertion into orbital flight.”
A keen eye will notice that the border is not a circle, but the letter “C”. That, together with the number one, signifies the name of the launch: Crew-1. In the starfield, there appear to be four larger stars — possibly one for each passenger. In the border are the outlines of the ISS and the Shuttle, as well as the symbols for Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury. Conspicuously absent from this patch are the astronauts’ names. According to NASA, “[t]here are no individual names or flags on the border because the patch honors not just the crew members on board, but all of the NASA and SpaceX employees who worked together. This patch honors their vision, service and support.”
Carrying four astronauts to orbit, Crew-1 had a near-flawless launch. The only glitch involved having to re-open the hatch after routine tests caught a slight pressure drop during the countdown. The crew found a tiny piece of debris on one of the seals that was causing a slight leak. They cleaned it up, resealed the hatch, and had a successful test. The ground crew did all of this in just a few minutes, allowing the launch to take place on schedule.
The crew consisted of:
Michael Hopkins (NASA), Spacecraft Commander: second space flight
Victor Glover (NASA), Pilot: first space flight
Shannon Walker (NASA), Mission Specialist 2: second space flight
Soichi Noguchi (JAXA), Mission Specialist 1: third space flight and the first foreign astronaut to fly in a Crew Dragon
There are now seven humans on the ISS, but there are only six sleeping quarters. Until additional equipment is sent up on a cargo flight, Commander Michael Hopkins is going to sleep in the Crew Dragon.
And of course, everyone wants to know what the zero-gravity indicator was on this flight. During the Dragon test launches, plushies were used, including the Little Earth Celestial Buddy and a Ty dinosaur named Tremor. For Crew-1, the tradition was followed, and in a nod to the popularity, and frankly, adorableness, of Baby Yoda, a plush of The Child from The Mandalorian floated on a tether for much of the trip. So far, there have been no signs of the Razor Crest in pursuit.
The trip to the International Space Station took about 27 hours, with docking taking place on November 17th. The docking was essentially uneventful, with one tiny hiccup where shadows obscured the view of the space station. A short hold was implemented while the capsule was about 20 meters from the docking adapter while the onboard crew waited for what amounts to sunset. Once the shadows ceased to be a problem, Resilience made contact with the station. “Soft capture” occurred at 04:01 UTC, and the docking itself was complete at approximately 04:15 UTC.
The Dragon and its crew are scheduled to spend about 180 days at the ISS, returning to Earth sometime in May 2021.
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