Image: NASA
SpaceX Crew-5
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2022-10-05 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1077.1) |
| Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Endurance (C210.2) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2023-03-12 |
| Recovery | Gulf of Mexico near Clearwater, Florida (SpaceX Dragon recovery vessel) |
| Duration | 157 days, 10 hours, 1 minute |
| Partners | NASA, SpaceX, JAXA, Roscosmos |
Overview
Crew-5 carried a roster of firsts into orbit on 5 October 2022 at 16:00 UTC. Commander Nicole Mann, a U.S. Marine Corps test pilot and member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, became the first Native American woman in space and the first woman to command a Crew Dragon. Beside her flew rookie pilot Josh Cassada, JAXA's Koichi Wakata on a record fifth spaceflight for a Japanese astronaut, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina — the first Russian to fly on a U.S. commercial spacecraft under the new NASA–Roscosmos integrated-crew seat-swap agreement, signed even as relations strained over Ukraine. Endurance, on its second flight, docked to the Harmony zenith port on 6 October at 21:01 UTC. The Expedition 68 increment proved eventful: the crew supported station operations through the Soyuz MS-22 coolant-leak contingency, and Mann and Wakata conducted spacewalks on 20 January and 2 February 2023 to install mounting brackets for new iROSA solar arrays — Wakata's first EVAs in a 26-year career. After 157 days, Endurance undocked and splashed down in darkness in the Gulf of Mexico near Clearwater on 12 March 2023 at 02:02 UTC.
Crew
Nicole Mann
Commander
NASA; first spaceflight; first Native American woman in space and first woman to command a Crew Dragon mission
Josh Cassada
Pilot
NASA; first spaceflight; physicist and U.S. Navy test pilot
Koichi Wakata
Mission Specialist
JAXA; record fifth spaceflight for a Japanese astronaut; performed the first two EVAs of his career
Anna Kikina
Mission Specialist
Roscosmos; first Russian cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. commercial spacecraft, under the NASA–Roscosmos seat-swap agreement
Key Milestones
2022-10-05
Liftoff at 16:00 UTC — Nicole Mann becomes the first Native American woman in space; Anna Kikina the first cosmonaut on Crew Dragon
2022-10-06
Endurance docks to the Harmony zenith port at 21:01 UTC on its second crewed flight
2023-01-20
Mann and Wakata perform an EVA to install iROSA mounting brackets — Wakata's first spacewalk
2023-02-02
Mann and Wakata complete a second EVA continuing the station's solar power upgrade work
2023-03-12
Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Clearwater at 02:02 UTC after 157 days in orbit
Key Achievements
Nicole Mann became the first Native American woman in space and the first woman to command a Crew Dragon
Anna Kikina became the first Roscosmos cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. commercial spacecraft
Koichi Wakata set a Japanese record with his fifth spaceflight and conducted his first two EVAs
Supported Expedition 68 operations through the Soyuz MS-22 coolant-leak contingency
Advanced the ISS iROSA solar array upgrade with two power-system EVAs
Legacy & Significance
Crew-5 embodied the resilience of the ISS partnership at its most strained moment: months into the war in Ukraine, a Russian cosmonaut launched from Florida on an American commercial capsule while a NASA astronaut flew Soyuz in return, preserving the guarantee that both segments of the station always have mixed crews aboard. The mission also widened the demographic reach of command in spaceflight through Nicole Mann, and its increment's steady handling of the Soyuz MS-22 leak demonstrated how the multi-vehicle crew architecture adds redundancy that the station era had long lacked.
