SpaceX completes Crewed Dragon mission

This morning the first Crewed Dragon mission came to an end with a successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The spacecraft which was launched last Saturday spent five days docked to the International Space Station during which time the crew spent time unloading and loading cargo and performing tests and inspections.

The hatches between the two vehicles were closed yesterday and autonomous departure occurred this morning complete another important test.

This mission included a number of first for SpaceX. This was their first crewed rated vehicle, their first autonomous docking, first splashdown in the Atlantic ocean.

With the successful completion of this mission, SpaceX will now refurbish the Dragon which will be used again for the inflight abort test where the eight SuperDraco engines on the capsule will fire while the rocket is at Maximum Dynamic Pressure (MaxQ) to verify the abort system. This is tentatively scheduled for June.

This then sets up Crewed Dragon for its first crewed mission which is tentatively scheduled for July this year, however that is subject to change as the data from these tests are completed and ISS schedules aligned.


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