# SpaceX Crew-2

SpaceX Crew-2 was the second operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the third overall crewed orbital flight of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission was launched on 23 April 2021 at 09:49:02 UTC, and docked to the International Space Station on 24 April at 09:08 UTC.
SpaceX Crew-2 used the same capsule as Crew Dragon Demo-2 (Endeavour) and launched on the same Falcon 9 booster as SpaceX Crew-1 (B1061.1).
With its return to Earth the evening of 9 November 2021, the mission set a record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crewed spacecraft, 199 days.

## Crew

On 28 July 2020, JAXA, ESA and NASA confirmed their astronaut assignments aboard this mission.
Prime crew :
| Position | Astronaut | Astronaut |
| Commander | Shane Kimbrough, NASA Expedition 65 / 66 Third and last spaceflight | Shane Kimbrough, NASA Expedition 65 / 66 Third and last spaceflight |
| Pilot | K. Megan McArthur, NASA Expedition 65 / 66 Second spaceflight | K. Megan McArthur, NASA Expedition 65 / 66 Second spaceflight |
| Mission Specialist 1 | Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA Expedition 65 / 66 Third spaceflight | Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA Expedition 65 / 66 Third spaceflight |
| Mission Specialist 2 | Thomas Pesquet, ESA Expedition 65 / 66 Second spaceflight | Thomas Pesquet, ESA Expedition 65 / 66 Second spaceflight |
Backup crew :
| Position | Astronaut | Astronaut |
| Mission Specialist 1 | Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA | Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA |
| Mission Specialist 2 | Matthias Maurer, ESA | Matthias Maurer, ESA |
German astronaut Matthias Maurer was the backup for Pesquet, while Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa trained as backup to Hoshide.

## Mission

The second SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program launched on 23 April 2021. The Crew Dragon Endeavour docked to the International Docking Adapter (IDA) at the forward port of the Harmony module. This was the first mission with astronauts on board to use a previously flown booster launch vehicle.
All crew members were veteran astronauts, though this was Megan McArthur's first visit to the ISS (as her first spaceflight was STS-125, a mission to the Hubble Space Telescope). McArthur used the same seat on the Crew Dragon Endeavour which her husband, Bob Behnken, used on the Demo-2 mission. Akihiko Hoshide served as the second Japanese ISS commander during his stay. It was the second mission by Thomas Pesquet to the International Space Station and was named Alpha, after Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth.
To prepare for the arrival of a Starliner, the Endeavour docked to ISS at Harmony forward port was undocked at 10:45 UTC and relocated to Harmony zenith port on 21 July 2021, at 11:36 UTC.
With CRS-23, (C208) and Inspiration4 (Resilience), three Dragon spacecraft were in space at the same time, from 16 to 18 September 2021 (UTC).

### Timeline

| MET | Time | Time | Date (UTC) | Event |
| MET | EDT | UTC | Date (UTC) | Event |
| −6:40:00 | 11:09:00 PM | 03:09:00 | 23 April 2021 | Crew wake |
| −05:30:00 | 0:19:02 AM | 04:19:02 | 23 April 2021 | CE launch readiness briefing |
| −05:00:00 | 0:49:02 AM | 04:49:02 | 23 April 2021 | Launch shift on console |
| −04:59:59 | 0:49:03 AM | 04:49:03 | 23 April 2021 | Dragon IMU align and configure for launch. |
| −04:30:00 | 1:19:02 AM | 04:19:02 | 23 April 2021 | Dragon propellant pressurization |
| −04:20:00 | 1:29:02 AM | 04:29:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew weather brief |
| −04:10:00 | 1:39:02 AM | 05:39:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew handoff |
| −04:00:00 | 1:49:02 AM | 05:49:02 | 23 April 2021 | Suit donning and checkouts |
| −03:20:00 | 2:29:02 AM | 05:29:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew walk out of Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building |
| −03:15:00 | 2:34:02 AM | 05:34:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew transportation to Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) by Tesla Model X with "RECYCLE" license plate |
| −02:55:00 | 2:54:02 AM | 06:54:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew arrives at pad |
| −02:35:00 | 3:14:02 AM | 07:14:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew ingress |
| −02:20:00 | 3:29:02 AM | 07:29:02 | 23 April 2021 | Communication check |
| −02:15:00 | 3:34:02 AM | 07:34:02 | 23 April 2021 | Verify ready for seat rotation |
| −02:14:00 | 3:35:02 AM | 07:35:02 | 23 April 2021 | Suit leak checks |
| −01:55:00 | 3:54:02 AM | 07:54:02 | 23 April 2021 | Hatch close |
| −01:10:00 | 4:39:02 AM | 08:39:02 | 23 April 2021 | ISS state upload to Dragon |
| −00:45:00 | 5:04:02 AM | 09:04:02 | 23 April 2021 | SpaceX launch director verifies go for propellant load |
| −00:42:00 | 5:07:02 AM | 09:07:02 | 23 April 2021 | Crew access arm retracts |
| −00:38:00 | 5:11:02 AM | 09:11:02 | 23 April 2021 | Dragon launch escape system is armed. |
| −00:35:00 | 5:14:02 AM | 09:14:02 | 23 April 2021 | RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins; 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins. |
| −00:16:00 | 5:33:02 AM | 09:33:02 | 23 April 2021 | 2nd stage LOX loading begins. |
| −00:07:00 | 5:42:02 AM | 09:42:02 | 23 April 2021 | Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch. |
| −00:05:00 | 5:44:02 AM | 09:44:02 | 23 April 2021 | Dragon transitions to internal power |
| −00:01:00 | 5:48:02 AM | 09:48:02 | 23 April 2021 | Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks; propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins. |
| −00:00:45 | 5:48:17 AM | 09:48:17 | 23 April 2021 | SpaceX launch director verifies go for launch. |
| −00:00:03 | 5:48:59 AM | 09:48:59 | 23 April 2021 | Engine controller commands Merlin engine ignition sequence to start. |
| 00:00:00 | 5:49:02 AM | 09:49:02 | 23 April 2021 | Liftoff |
| +00:01:02 | 5:50:04 AM | 09:50:04 | 23 April 2021 | Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the launch vehicle) |
| +00:02:36 | 5:51:38 AM | 09:51:38 | 23 April 2021 | 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO) |
| +00:02:39 | 5:51:41 AM | 09:51:41 | 23 April 2021 | 1st and 2nd stages separate |
| +00:02:47 | 5:51:49 AM | 09:51:49 | 23 April 2021 | 2nd stage engine starts |
| +00:07:27 | 5:56:29 AM | 09:56:29 | 23 April 2021 | 1st stage entry burn |
| +00:08:47 | 5:57:49 AM | 09:57:49 | 23 April 2021 | 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) |
| +00:09:03 | 5:58:05 AM | 09:58:05 | 23 April 2021 | 1st stage landing burn |
| +00:09:30 | 5:58:32 AM | 09:58:32 | 23 April 2021 | 1st stage landing |
| +00:11:58 | 6:01:00 AM | 10:01:00 | 23 April 2021 | Crew Dragon separates from 2nd stage |
| +00:13:02 | 6:02:04 AM | 10:02:04 | 23 April 2021 | Dragon nosecone open sequence begins |
| +1/ | 3:31 AM | 07:31 | 24 April 2021 | Dragon starts the final phase of the approach to the ISS. |
| +1/03:33 | 05:08 AM | 09:08 | 24 April 2021 | Soft capture to the ISS. |
| +1/03:33 | 05:20 AM | 09:20 | 24 April 2021 | Dragon docked to the ISS. |
| +1/05:34 | 7:15 AM | 11:15 | 24 April 2021 | Hatch opened. |

## Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Gemini 6; the first song was Hello, Dolly. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.
| Flight Day | Song | Artist | Played for | Links |
| Day 2 | An off-key, all flute comedic cover of A-Ha's "Take On Me", made by YouTube artist "Shittyflute". | A-ha (original) Shittyflute (Cover) | Thomas Pesquet | |

## Return

Due to weather delays and a minor health problem with one of the SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts, NASA decided to bring home the Crew-2 astronauts from the ISS before launching Crew-3, thus being the first Crew Dragon indirect handover of space station crews. The Crew Dragon undocked from the station at 19:05 UTC on 8 November 2021 and splashed down off the coast of Florida at 03:33 UTC on 9 November 2021. One of four parachutes deployed slower than the others.

## Gallery

* Crew-2 astronauts before flight
* Launch of Crew-2
* Endeavour approaching the ISS
* View of the ISS from Endeavour
* Crew-2 reentering the atmosphere