Image: NASA
SpaceX Crew-4
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2022-04-27 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1067.4) |
| Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Freedom (C212.1) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2022-10-14 |
| Recovery | Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville, Florida (SpaceX Dragon recovery vessel) |
| Duration | 170 days, 13 hours, 3 minutes |
| Partners | NASA, SpaceX, ESA |
Overview
Crew-4 debuted Crew Dragon Freedom and flew one of the most historically significant rosters of the program. Launching 27 April 2022 at 07:52 UTC — about 39 hours after the private Axiom-1 crew splashed down — the mission carried NASA's Kjell Lindgren in command, rookie pilot Bob Hines, ESA's Samantha Cristoforetti on her Minerva mission, and geologist Jessica Watkins, who became the first Black woman to serve a long-duration increment aboard the ISS. Freedom executed one of the fastest U.S. crew rendezvous to date, docking at 23:37 UTC less than 16 hours after liftoff. The increment, spanning Expeditions 67 and 68, was dense with milestones: on 21 July 2022 Cristoforetti stepped outside in a Russian Orlan suit with cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, performing the first spacewalk by a European woman, and on 28 September she assumed command of Expedition 68 — the first European woman to command the International Space Station. The crew supported hundreds of investigations, from immune-system studies to student experiments, before Freedom splashed down in the Atlantic off Jacksonville on 14 October 2022 at 20:55 UTC, closing a 170-day flight and the first Atlantic recovery of a NASA crew rotation.
Crew
Kjell Lindgren
Commander
NASA; second spaceflight; physician-astronaut who previously flew Soyuz to Expeditions 44/45
Bob Hines
Pilot
NASA; first spaceflight; former U.S. Air Force test pilot
Samantha Cristoforetti
Mission Specialist
ESA (Minerva mission); second spaceflight; first European woman to command the ISS and first ESA female spacewalker
Jessica Watkins
Mission Specialist
NASA; first spaceflight; planetary geologist and first Black woman on a long-duration ISS increment
Key Milestones
2022-04-27
Liftoff at 07:52 UTC — maiden flight of Crew Dragon Freedom, roughly 39 hours after Axiom-1's splashdown
2022-04-27
Freedom docks to the ISS at 23:37 UTC, under 16 hours after launch — one of the fastest U.S. crew rendezvous
2022-07-21
Cristoforetti performs the first spacewalk by a European woman, in a Russian Orlan suit alongside Oleg Artemyev
2022-09-28
Cristoforetti assumes command of Expedition 68 — the first European woman to command the ISS
2022-10-14
Splashdown in the Atlantic near Jacksonville at 20:55 UTC after 170 days in orbit
Key Achievements
Maiden flight of Crew Dragon Freedom, the fourth and final new capsule of the initial crew fleet
Docked less than 16 hours after launch — among the fastest U.S. crew rendezvous flown
Jessica Watkins became the first Black woman to complete a long-duration ISS mission
Samantha Cristoforetti performed the first EVA by a European woman and became the first European female ISS commander
Launched about 39 hours after Axiom-1's return, demonstrating rapid back-to-back SpaceX crew operations
Legacy & Significance
Crew-4 completed SpaceX's four-capsule crew fleet and showed the system operating at tempo, flying within two days of a returning private mission on the same pad infrastructure. Its deeper legacy is human: Watkins' flight broke a long-standing barrier in long-duration spaceflight representation, and Cristoforetti's spacewalk and station command redefined European leadership aboard the ISS. The mission cemented the rotation cadence in which commercial, private, and international flights now interleave seamlessly on American spacecraft.
