The Dragon Endurance spacecraft carrying the Crew-5 astronauts launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 11 PM on October 5 (Hanoi time).
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon Endurance spacecraft lifts off from the launch pad. (Video: NASA)
SpaceX’s spacecraft began its approximately 29-hour journey to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew consists of four astronauts: NASA’s Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and cosmonaut Anna Kikina.
This flight marks Mann as the first Native American woman to travel to the ISS and Kikina as the first Russian astronaut to fly on a U.S. private spacecraft. During a press conference on October 1, Kikina expressed her gratitude to NASA, SpaceX, and Russian authorities for making the Crew-5 mission possible.
At launch, as the countdown reached zero, nine Merlin engines provided thrust for the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, lifting the 70-meter rocket off the launch pad. Two minutes and 40 seconds later, the engine cluster shut down. The upper stage of the Falcon 9 separated from the first stage. Twenty minutes later, the Dragon Endurance spacecraft separated from the upper stage as planned, beginning its journey to catch up with the ISS. “The flight was very smooth, and I could see the faces of the other three crew members were happy to be back in a weightless environment,” Wakata shared with mission control.
Approximately 9.5 minutes after launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket landed on “Just Read the Instructions,” SpaceX’s autonomous drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. This was the first landing for this booster stage. The section appeared bright white when viewed from the launch pad, rather than the black soot typically seen on most SpaceX rockets due to multiple missions.
The reuse of the booster stage allows SpaceX to increase efficiency and achieve an impressive launch frequency. Crew-5 is SpaceX’s 44th orbital launch in 2022. It also marks the company’s eighth crewed mission, with two more missions scheduled before spring 2023.
The Crew-5 launch was originally scheduled for October 3, but NASA and SpaceX had to postpone due to Hurricane Ian.
All Crew-5 astronauts are first-time space travelers except for Wakata. This is Wakata’s fifth trip to orbit. According to the schedule, the Dragon Endurance is set to dock with the ISS before 4 AM on October 7. The astronauts will live aboard the ISS for five months, conducting scientific experiments and various other tasks. They will be welcomed by the current seven crew members on the ISS, four of whom flew on SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission. When the Crew-4 astronauts depart in the coming days, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will hand over command of the ISS to Mann. She will hold this position until the Crew-6 team arrives at the station in the spring of next year.
Previously, Crew-5 was scheduled to launch on October 3, but NASA and SpaceX had to move the date due to Hurricane Ian. The storm also impacted NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon mission, forcing the rocket assembly to be moved from Launch Complex 39B to avoid the hurricane.
