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2023 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SpaceX Crew-6 was the sixth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the ninth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 2 March 2023 at 05:34:14 UTC, and it successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 March 2023 at 06:40 UTC. The Crew-6 mission transported four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Two NASA astronauts, a United Arab Emirates astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut were assigned to the mission. The two NASA astronauts are Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg.[4] The cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, was reassigned from Soyuz MS-23. Sultan Al Neyadi was the commander of the United Arab Emirates' mission on the flight.
Names | USCV-6 |
---|---|
Mission type | ISS crew transport |
Operator | SpaceX |
COSPAR ID | 2023-027A |
SATCAT no. | 55740 |
Mission duration | 185 days, 22 hours, 42 minutes |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Endurance |
Spacecraft type | Crew Dragon |
Manufacturer | SpaceX |
Launch mass | 12,519 kg (27,600 lb) |
Landing mass | 9,616 kg (21,200 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 4 |
Members | |
Expedition | Expedition 68 / 69 |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 2 March 2023, 05:34:14 UTC (12:34:14 pm EDT)[1][2][3] |
Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1078.1) |
Launch site | Kennedy, LC‑39A |
End of mission | |
Recovered by | MV Megan |
Landing date | 4 September 2023, 04:17 UTC (12:17 am EDT) |
Landing site | Atlantic Ocean, near Jacksonville, Florida |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.66° |
Docking with ISS | |
Docking port | Harmony zenith |
Docking date | 3 March 2023, 06:40 UTC |
Undocking date | 6 May 2023, 11:23 UTC |
Time docked | 64 days, 4 hours, 43 minutes |
Docking with ISS (relocation) | |
Docking port | Harmony forward |
Docking date | 6 May 2023, 12:01 UTC |
Undocking date | 3 September 2023, 11:05 UTC |
Time docked | 119 days, 23 hours, 4 minutes |
Mission patch From left: Al Neyadi, Hoburg, Bowen and Fedyaev |
On 24 March 2022, the European Space Agency announced that Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen would serve as backup pilot.[5] On 29 April 2022, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and Axiom Space announced that Crew-6 will also include an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.[6]
MBRSC participation in this mission resulted from a 2021 agreement between NASA and Axiom to fly a NASA astronaut, Mark T. Vande Hei, onboard Soyuz MS-18 (launch) and Soyuz MS-19 (return) in order to ensure a continuing American presence on board the ISS. In return, Axiom received the rights to a NASA owned seat onboard SpaceX Crew-6. Axiom provided the flight opportunity to MBRSC professional crew members through an agreement with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency.[7] Later, the astronaut was confirmed to be Sultan Al Neyadi.[8]
Andrey Fedyaev was selected in July 2022 for this mission as a part of the Soyuz-Dragon crew swap system of keeping at least one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut on each of the crew rotation missions.[9] This ensures both countries have a presence on the station, and the ability to maintain their separate systems if either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are grounded for an extended period.[10]
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Stephen Bowen, NASA Expedition 68 / 69 Fourth spaceflight | |
Pilot | Warren Hoburg, NASA Expedition 68 / 69 First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Sultan Al Neyadi, MBRSC Expedition 68 / 69 First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos Expedition 68 / 69 First spaceflight |
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Jasmin Moghbeli, NASA | |
Pilot | Andreas Mogensen, ESA | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Hazza Al Mansouri, MBRSC[11] | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Konstantin Borisov, Roscosmos |
The sixth SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) was launched on 2 March 2023 and lasted approximately six months. The mission was scheduled to launch early on 27 February 2023. However, the initial attempt was scrubbed and rescheduled for 2 March 2023 at 5:34 am UTC.[1][2][3] The second launch attempt was successful.
Alongside Crew-6, the Dragon capsule is designed to be able to bring back the Soyuz MS-22 crew if necessary, serving as an emergency evacuation, as was Crew-5. Roscosmos elected to launch Soyuz MS-23 without a crew to return the MS-22 crew instead of using this capability.[12]
The first launch attempt was scrubbed at T−02:12 minutes due to an issue with the TEA-TEB spontaneous ignition fluid (times are UTC).[13]
Attempt | Planned | Result | Turnaround | Reason | Decision point | Weather go (%) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 27 Feb 2023, 6:45:03 am | Scrubbed | — | Technical | 27 Feb 2023, 6:43 am (T−2:12) | 95[14] | TEA-TEB ignitor issue. Rocket launch failure risk (wrong ignition or premature engine cutoff). |
2 | 2 Mar 2023, 5:34:14 am | Success | 2 days 22 hours 49 minutes | 95[15] |
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