Crew Dragon Endeavour

Last flightFlights5Flight time643d, 12h, 33m (mission in progress)Dragon 2s

Crew Dragon Endeavour (serial number C206) is the first operational Crew Dragon reusable spacecraft manufactured and operated by SpaceX. It first launched on 30 May 2020 to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission. It has subsequently been used for the SpaceX Crew-2 mission that launched in April 2021, the private Axiom Mission 1 that launched in April 2022, and the SpaceX Crew-6 mission that launched in March 2023. It is currently in orbit after launching the SpaceX Crew-8 mission in March 2024. The capsule was named after Space Shuttle Endeavour. As of August 2024^[update], Endeavour holds the record for the record for the most time in orbit by a crewed spacecraft.

After the success of Crew Dragon Demo-1 using Crew Dragon C204, that spacecraft was originally planned to be used for the Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test. However, on 20 April 2019, Crew Dragon C204 was destroyed in an explosion during static fire testing at the Landing Zone 1 facility.^[1][2] On the day of the anomaly, the initial testing of the Crew Dragon's Draco thrusters was successful, with the explosion occurring during the test of the SuperDraco abort system.^[3] Crew Dragon C205, then slated to be used for the Demo-2 mission, was subsequently used for the in-flight abort test. Endeavour, then, was assigned to the Demo-2 mission, replacing Crew Dragon C205. On 17 April 2020, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the launch date of the crewed Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station to be on 27 May 2020.^[4] According to SpaceX, Endeavour underwent electromagnetic interference testing and completed acoustic testing in February 2020.^[5][6] In early April 2020, the spacecraft was in SpaceX's processing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida to undergo final processing and testing in preparation for the Demo-2 launch.^[7] It was then transported to Kennedy Space Center, arriving at the Launch Complex 39A on 15 May 2020. The spacecraft was then mated to a Falcon 9 rocket and was rolled out onto the launch pad on 21 May 2020, with static fire testing completed the next day.^[8]

Crew Dragon Endeavour, with its name still unannounced, was successfully launched on top of the rocket on 30 May 2020 after the scrubbing of the first attempt due to poor weather conditions.^[9][10] Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley crewed the Demo-2 mission, marking the first crewed launch to the International Space Station from the United States since STS-135 in July 2011. The mission was intended to complete the validation of crewed spaceflight operations using SpaceX hardware.^[11] If successful, the demonstration flight would allow for human-rating certification of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the Falcon 9 rocket, the crew transportation system, the launch pad, and SpaceX's capabilities. In a video tour of the spacecraft shortly after the launch, Behnken and Hurley revealed they named the capsule Endeavour after the Space Shuttle Endeavour, the spacecraft the both of them first flew on, on missions STS-123 and STS-127, respectively, to recognize the "incredible endeavor" that SpaceX and NASA have taken. Additionally, each crew member brought along a toy from their family, in this case an Apatosaurus dinosaur named "Tremor", a sequined plush dinosaur toy, and a Ty flippables plush toy, continuing the tradition for astronauts to bring a plush toy or trinket aboard their spacecraft to serve as a zero-gravity indicator when weightlessness kicks in during spaceflight.^[12] Days after the successful launch, NASA gave SpaceX approval to reuse flight-proven spacecraft, indicating Endeavour may be potentially reused.^[13]

Spending 19 hours in orbit approaching the ISS, Hurley demonstrated the ability to pilot the spacecraft via its touchscreen controls; upon reaching a distance of 220 metres (720 ft) from the ISS docking ports, he let the automated docking program take over. Endeavour docked with the ISS on 31 May 2020.^[14][15][16] Hurley and Behnken joined the ISS Expedition 63 crew, which consisted of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoli Ivanishin.^[17] Behnken and Hurley launched to the ISS for an indeterminate time frame, which depended on Endeavour's solar array degradation, the status of Crew Dragon Resilience, and landing zone weather.^[18]

NASA originally planned Demo-2 as a short test flight lasting about two weeks, but later chose to extend the mission to address the shortfall of crew in the ISS.^[19] According to Ken Bowersox, acting administrator for NASA's human spaceflight program, the spacecraft was "doing very well" and NASA re-planned to bring the crew and Endeavour home in early August.^[18] When Endeavour returned, it journeyed through a fast fiery descent of Earth's atmosphere and was slowed down by the capsule's drogue chute and suite of parachutes. It splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, near Pensacola, FL, where a SpaceX recovery boat brought the crew and spacecraft back to shore.^[14]

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley left a Demo-2 patch on the inside of Endeavour after their mission.^[20] Shane Kimbrough announced that the Crew-2 astronauts will keep the "Endeavour" name for the spacecraft revealed by Hurley and Behnken shortly after their launch last May.^[21]

Endeavour was flown in space on the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission on 30 May 2020, and returned to Earth on 2 August. The spacecraft was rated to spend 119 days in orbit, as its solar panels had less capability than a full production Crew Dragon capable of staying in space for up to 210 days.^[22] The seat of Bob Behnken in Endeavour during Demo-2 was used by his wife, K. Megan McArthur in the SpaceX Crew-2 mission.^[23]

List includes only completed or currently manifested missions. Dates are listed in UTC, and for future events, they are the earliest possible opportunities (also known as NET dates) and may change.

Flight No.	Mission and Patch	Launch	Landing	Duration	Remarks	Crew	Outcome
1	Demo-2	30 May 2020, 19:22:45	2 August 2020 18:48:06	63 days, 23 hours, 25 minutes	First crewed flight test of Dragon 2. The mission was extended from two weeks to nine, to allow the crew to bolster activity on the ISS ahead of Crew-1.[24]	Doug Hurley Bob Behnken	Success
2	Crew-2	23 April 2021, 09:49:02	9 November 2021, 03:33:15	199 days, 17 hours, 44 minutes	First reuse of a crewed space capsule and first reuse of a Falcon 9 booster.[25][26] Long-duration mission. Ferried four Expedition 65/66 crew members to the ISS.	Shane Kimbrough Megan McArthur Akihiko Hoshide Thomas Pesquet	Success
3	Axiom-1 (patch)	8 April 2022, 15:17:11	25 April 2022, 17:06:23	17 days, 1 hour, 49 minutes	First fully private flight to the ISS. Contracted by Axiom Space. Axiom employee served as commander with three paying tourists.	/ Michael López-Alegría Larry Connor Mark Pathy Eytan Stibbe	Success
4	Crew-6	2 March 2023, 05:34:14	4 September 2023, 04:17	185 days, 22 hours, 42 minutes	Long-duration mission. Ferried four Expedition 68/69 crew members to the ISS.	Stephen Bowen Warren Hoburg Sultan Al Neyadi Andrey Fedyaev	Success
5	Crew-8	4 March 2024, 3:53:38	September 2024 (planned)	176 days, 18 hours, 51 minutes (in progress)	Long-duration mission. Ferried four Expedition 70/71 crew members to the ISS.	Matthew Dominick Michael Barratt Jeanette Epps Alexander Grebenkin	Docked at ISS

• Media related to Crew Dragon Endeavour at Wikimedia Commons