page_title: SpaceX Dragon 2
section_title: Demo-2: crewed orbital flight test
hierarchical_section_title: SpaceX Dragon 2 / Testing / Demo-2: crewed orbital flight test
caption_attribution_description: English: The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft is lifted onto the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. The Demo-2 test flight for NASA's Commercial Crew Program was the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth onboard a commercially built and operated spacecraft. Behnken and Hurley returned after spending 64 days in space. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Español: La capsula Crew Dragon Endeavour es cargada en el barco GO Navigator tras su amerizaje durante la misión SpaceX Demo-2.
context_page_description: The SpaceX Dragon 2 is a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX as the successor to Dragon, a reusable cargo spacecraft. It has two variants: Crew Dragon, a space capsule capable of ferrying up to seven astronauts, and Cargo Dragon, an updated replacement for the original Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and returns to Earth via an ocean splashdown. Unlike its predecessor, the spacecraft can dock itself to the ISS instead of being berthed. Crew Dragon is equipped with an integrated launch escape system capable of accelerating the vehicle away from the rocket in an emergency at 11.8 m/s², accomplished by using a set of four side-mounted thruster pods with two SuperDraco engines each. The spacecraft features redesigned solar arrays and a modified outer mold line compared to the original Dragon, and possesses new flight computers and avionics. As of March 2020, four Dragon 2 spacecraft have been manufactured.
context_section_description: On 17 April 2020, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the first crewed Crew Dragon Demo-2 to the International Space Station would launch on 27 May 2020. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley crewed the mission, marking the first crewed launch to the International Space Station from US soil since STS-135 in July 2011. The original launch was postponed to 30 May 2020 due to weather conditions at the launch site. The second launch attempt was successful, with capsule C206, later named Endeavour by the crew, launching on 30 May 2020 19:22 UTC. The capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station on 31 May 2020 at 14:27 UTC. On August 2, 2020, Crew Dragon undocked and splashed-down successfully in the ocean.
  Launching in the Dragon 2 spacecraft was described by astronaut Bob Behnken as "smooth off the pad" but "we were definitely driving and riding a dragon all the way up... a little bit less g's [than the Space Shuttle] but more 'alive' is probably the best way I would describe it".
  Regarding descent in the spacecraft, Behnken stated, "Once we descended a little bit into the atmosphere, Dragon really came alive. It started to fire thrusters and keep us pointed in the appropriate direction. The atmosphere starts to make noise - you can hear that rumble outside the vehicle. And as the vehicle tries to control, you feel a little bit of that shimmy in your body. ...  We could feel those small rolls and pitches and yaws - all those little motions were things we picked up on inside the vehicle. ...
  All the separation events, from the trunk separation through the parachute firings, were very much like getting hit in the back of the chair with a baseball bat ... pretty light for the trunk separation but with the parachutes it was a pretty significant jolt."
caption: Endeavour being recovered after splashdown
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