Crew-8 begins Journey to the ISS on a Falcon 9 Rocket

Liftoff of Falcon9 with Crew Dragon: Credit SpaceX

On March 3rd at 10:53 pm EST, SpaceX launched Crew-8 to the International Space Station. Under clear skies, the Falcon 9 rose from LC-39/A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. B1083, a new booster, made its first flight. Dragon Endeavor is on its fifth trip to the ISS. It supported Demo-2, Crew-3, Crew-6, and Axiom-1. Ascent weather concerns delayed the launch by several days. A small crack in the hatch seal was deemed to be within safety margins.

Aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour, the Expedition 70/71 crew is led by Commander Matthew Dominick, a NASA astronaut making his first trip to space. A member of the 2017 class, he earned a Master of Science in systems engineering. He was a Naval test pilot with over 1600 hours of flight including aircraft carrier landings.

Pilot Micheal Barret starts his third mission. He journeyed on a Soyuz rocket in 2009 as part of Expedition 19, spending199 days on the ISS. Micheal returned to the space station via STS-133, the last shuttle Discovery mission. Part of the NASA 2000 class, he is a board-certified doctor of aerospace and internal medicine

MS-1 is Jeanette Epps on her first flight. She earned a PhD in aerospace engineering. Among achievements are patents awarded for her work at Ford and seven years with the CIA as a technical intelligence officer. Selected in 2009, Jeanette’s focus has been in the ISS Operations branch before her current assignment.

From Russia’s Roscosmos, MS-2 Alexander Grebenkin is on his first space flight. A lieutenant in his country’s Air Force, he later worked at RSC Energia as technician then engineer before his 2018 appointment to cosmonaut.

The crew was delivered to LC-39/A via black Teslas 3-1/2 hours before launch. Forty-five minutes before T-zero, final approval was given for propellant loading. The crew access arm was retracted minutes later. Dragon’s Launch Escape System was armed then thirty-five minutes before liftoff, super-chilled kerosene, RP-1, flowed into both stages. Liquid oxygen, needed for combustion, began to fill simultaneously in B1083. Sixteen minutes before t-zero, liquid oxygen flowed in the second stage, which is always a brand-new vehicle. Computers ensured milestones were executed on time, including engine chill-down and tank pressurization. The launch director verified go for launch at T-45 seconds. A flash of green from the TEA / TAB, a liquid used to start the nine Merlin engines, commenced ignition.

Booster B1083 separation occurred two and a half minutes later. As the second stage ignited its lone engine, the first performed a flip maneuver then a boost-back burn. Grid fins and cold gas thrusters aligned the descending stage. Six minutes after launch, three engines ignited for the entry burn. This began to slow down the rocket as it lowered to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Aligned with LZ-1, the landing burn allowed B1083 to gently touch down on the concrete pad. Moments later, a double sonic boom spread across the local area.

The second stage burned for six minutes. Separation of Crew Dragon Endeavour occurred three minutes later. The spent stage performed adjustments to line it up with entry and burn-up over the Pacific Ocean.

The Crew Dragon Endeavour will take approximately 28 hours to reach the ISS. Docking with the Harmony Module is planned for 3am on March 5^th. The spacecraft and Crew-8 will remain at the ISS for six months then return via splashdown off the Florida coast.