Image: NASA
SpaceX Crew-1
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2020-11-16 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1061.1) |
| Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Resilience (C207.1) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2021-05-02 |
| Recovery | GO Navigator, Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida |
| Duration | 167 days, 6 hours, 29 minutes |
| Partners | NASA, SpaceX, JAXA |
Overview
SpaceX Crew-1 opened the operational era of NASA's Commercial Crew Program — the first post-certification crew rotation flown by a commercial spacecraft. On 16 November 2020 at 00:27 UTC, a new Falcon 9 booster (B1061) lifted the maiden Crew Dragon Resilience off Launch Complex 39A carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker alongside JAXA veteran Soichi Noguchi, whose career now spanned launches on the Space Shuttle, Soyuz and Dragon. The capsule docked autonomously to the Harmony module's forward port at 04:01 UTC on 17 November, and the quartet joined Expedition 64 for a six-month increment. Glover became the first Black astronaut to serve a long-duration ISS expedition, while Hopkins was sworn into the newly created U.S. Space Force while in orbit. In April 2021 Resilience performed the first Crew Dragon port relocation, freeing the forward port for Crew-2's arrival. The mission's 167-day flight shattered Skylab 4's 84-day record for the longest mission by an American crewed spacecraft. On 2 May 2021 at 06:56 UTC, Resilience splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, Florida — the first nighttime splashdown by a U.S. crew since Apollo 8 in December 1968.
Crew
Michael Hopkins
Commander
NASA; second spaceflight; transferred into the U.S. Space Force while aboard the ISS, becoming the first Space Force member in orbit
Victor Glover
Pilot
NASA; first spaceflight; first Black astronaut to serve a long-duration ISS expedition, later named Artemis II pilot
Shannon Walker
Mission Specialist
NASA; second spaceflight, previously flew Soyuz TMA-19 to the ISS in 2010
Soichi Noguchi
Mission Specialist
JAXA; third spaceflight; first astronaut to launch on the Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and Crew Dragon
Key Milestones
2020-11-16
Liftoff from LC-39A at 00:27 UTC — first operational Commercial Crew rotation flight and maiden voyage of Crew Dragon Resilience
2020-11-17
Resilience docks autonomously to the Harmony module's forward port at 04:01 UTC; crew joins Expedition 64
2021-01-27
Hopkins and Glover conduct an EVA to upgrade station batteries and communications hardware
2021-04-05
First-ever Crew Dragon port relocation: Resilience moves from Harmony forward to Harmony zenith to clear the path for Crew-2
2021-05-02
Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico at 06:56 UTC — first U.S. night splashdown since Apollo 8 (1968), ending a record 167-day flight
Key Achievements
First operational, post-certification crewed flight of NASA's Commercial Crew Program
Longest mission by a U.S. crewed spacecraft at the time — 167 days, surpassing Skylab 4's 1974 record
Victor Glover became the first Black astronaut on a long-duration ISS expedition
First U.S. nighttime crew splashdown since Apollo 8 in 1968
Performed the first Crew Dragon port relocation at the ISS
Legacy & Significance
Crew-1 proved that NASA's bet on commercial human spaceflight could carry routine, six-month station rotations — not just test flights. By quadrupling the previous U.S.-spacecraft endurance record and validating Dragon's long-duration orbital storage, port relocation, and night recovery operations, the mission established the operational template every subsequent Crew rotation has followed. It also restored full four-person USOS crews to the ISS, roughly doubling the science hours available on the American segment, and marked the start of an unbroken cadence of commercial crew rotations that ended U.S. reliance on Soyuz seats.
