science

SpaceX Crew-1

SpaceX Crew-1 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SpaceX Crew-1 rather than just read about it. In short: SpaceX Crew-1 (also known as USCV-1 or simply Crew-1) was the first operational crewed flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft and the maiden flight of the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. It was also the second crewed orbital flight launch by the United States since that of STS-135 in July 2011.

Key takeaways

SpaceX Crew-1 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SpaceX Crew-1 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SpaceX Crew-1 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SpaceX Crew-1 (also known as USCV-1 or simply Crew-1) was the first operational crewed flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft and the maiden flight of the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. It was also the second crewed orbital flight launch by the United States since that of STS-135 in July 2011. Resilience launched on November 16, 2020, at 00:27:17 UTC on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), carrying NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all members of the Expedition 64 crew. The mission was the second overall crewed orbital flight of the Crew Dragon. Crew-1 was the first operational mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Commercial Crew Program. Originally designated "USCV-1" by NASA in 2012, the launch date was delayed several times from the original date of November 2016. The mission was scheduled to depart the ISS on April 28, 2021, but due to weather returned to Earth on May 2, 2021. The capsule splashed down at 06:56:33 UTC, to be reused on Inspiration4. It was the first nighttime splashdown for NASA astronauts since Apollo 8 in 1968. On February 7, 2021, the Crew-1 broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crewed vehicle, surpassing the 84-day mark set by an Apollo capsule on the final flight to the Skylab (Skylab-4) space station on February 8, 1974.

Background The first operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program, originally designated "USCV-1" (United States Crew Vehicle-mission 1) by NASA, was initially announced in November 2012, with a launch date set for November 2016. In April 2013, it was announced that the launch would be delayed by one year to November 2017. It was then delayed into 2019 and 2020, pending the success of the uncrewed and crewed demonstration missions, respectively. Following the Crew Dragon Demonstration Mission 2, Crew-1 was tentatively scheduled for September 2020; further delays occurred to align with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and their impact on the schedule of ISS crew rotations and cargo delivery missions, and then again because of concerns about an issue with the gas generators on the Merlin 1D engines. On September 29, 2020, mission commander Mike Hopkins revealed during a NASA press conference that the capsule's crew had chosen to name it Resilience. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex only allowed a few people to watch the launch in person from the KSC premises.

Crew NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover were announced as the crew on August 3, 2018. JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi and the third NASA astronaut, Shannon Walker, were added to the crew on March 31, 2020.

Preparations Crew-1's Falcon 9 launch vehicle arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 14, 2020. Crew Dragon capsule C207 arrived at SpaceX processing facilities in Florida, on August 18, 2020. The successful launch of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) on November 5, 2020, was a milestone leading up to the Crew-1 mission. Falcon 9 successfully deployed a GPS navigation satellite (GPS III-04) for the United States Space Force (USSF), confirming that engineers had resolved an issue with Merlin 1D engines that delayed the GPS mission and the Crew-1 flight. The crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center via a NASA Gulfstream jet on November 8, 2020, at 13:53 UTC. A Flight Readiness Review (FRR) convened by NASA officials was scheduled on November 10, 2020, to discuss unresolved technical issues, review the status of launch preparations, and give approval for teams to proceed with the Crew-1 mission. NASA officials gave approval on November 10, 2020, for SpaceX to begin regular crew rotation flights to the International Space Station, signaling a transition from development to operations for the human-rated Crew Dragon spacecraft. The launch vehicle was lifted to its vertical position on the pad for a test firing of its Merlin-1D main engines on November 11, 2020, at 20:49 UTC. A dry dress rehearsal (DDR) on November 12, 2020, saw the crew put on their pressure suits and climb into Resilience. SpaceX ran a launch readiness review (LRR) on November 13, 2020.

Mission

On November 15, 2020, final pre-launch preparations were completed. The hatch of Resilience was closed at 22:32 UTC, but reopened briefly after a slight drop in pressure was detected. Troubleshooting the hatch seal led to discovery of a small amount of foreign object debris (FOD) in the seal. The hatch was then closed again, and mission controllers proceeded with the countdown. No further concerns were noted, and on November 16, 2020, at 00:27:17 UTC, Resilience lifted off successfully. Its Falcon 9 first-stage booster, SN B1061.1, landed on the autonomous spaceport drone ship Just Read the Instructions. The astronauts entered a stable orbit after about nine minutes. For this mission, the crew had chosen a plush toy of "The Child" (also known as "Baby Yoda") from The Mandalorian as a Zero-G indicator. The crew were awakened on the second day of the flight with Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight". Resilience docked to the International Docking Adapter (IDA) on the Harmony module on November 17, 2020, at 04:01 UTC. Over the course of the mission, the four astronauts lived and worked alongside the three astronauts of the Soyuz MS-17 mission. Together, the two missions form ISS Expedition 64. Assuming the regular ISS crew rotation schedule is adhered to, the crew transfer to Expedition 65 following the departure of Soyuz MS-17, on April 17, 2021. On April 5, 2021, the Crew-1 astronauts relocated their spacecraft from Harmony forward to Harmony zenith by using the Draco thrusters that are mounted on the side of Dragon Resilience's trunk, to make way for the arrival and docking of the SpaceX Crew-2 spacecraft, launched on April 23, 2021. In July 2022, it was reported that some of the debris from Crew 1 Dragon crashed into a farm in Australia.

Timeline

Gallery

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SpaceX Crew-1

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SpaceX Crew-1 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SpaceX Crew-1 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SpaceX Crew-1 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SpaceX Crew-1

In research: SpaceX Crew-1 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SpaceX Crew-1 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SpaceX Crew-1 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020 in the United States, 2021 in the United States, Crew Dragon, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SpaceX Crew-1 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “SpaceX Crew-1” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study SpaceX Crew-1 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SpaceX Crew-1 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SpaceX Crew-1 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SpaceX Crew-1 in simple terms?

Why does SpaceX Crew-1 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SpaceX Crew-1?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SpaceX Crew-1.