On April 23, 2021, SpaceX launched the Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The launch took place at 5:49 a.m. EDT (0949 GMT) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A Falcon 9 rocket carried the Crew Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, into orbit with four astronauts on board:
- Shane Kimbrough (NASA, mission commander)
- Megan McArthur (NASA, pilot)
- Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA, mission specialist)
- Thomas Pesquet (ESA, mission specialist)
This was the second operational crewed flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft under NASA’s contract with SpaceX, and notably, it was the first time SpaceX reused both a Falcon 9 booster (previously flown on the Crew-1 mission) and a Crew Dragon capsule (previously used for the Demo-2 mission). The crew successfully docked with the ISS on April 24, 2021, after a roughly 23-hour journey, and they remained on the station for about six months before returning to Earth in November 2021.
David Daniels has been writing at DavidDaniels.com since 2001. Download the free life planning workbook, Write Open Act, to start mapping the gap for yourself.