SpaceX is preparing to launch its Crew Dragon spacecraft on its first test flight Demo-1 (DM-1).
The flight readiness review for the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission took place at Kennedy Space Center on 2019-02-22 and included more than 100 people from NASA and SpaceX.
A Falcon 9 rocket launching from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center will place Crew Dragon into orbit for the Demo-1 mission.
Crew Dragon is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station one day after the Demo-1 launch and remain berthed until 2019-03-08.
NASA planned to stand down from additional Crew Dragon launch attempts until after the 2019-03-14 Soyuz launch carrying three new ISS crewmembers.
NASA approved SpaceX to proceed with an uncrewed test flight of its Crew Dragon spacecraft on 2019-03-02.
SpaceX plans to reuse the 2019-02-21 booster for a fourth time in April for the Crew Dragon in-flight abort test.
David Giger worked thirteen years at SpaceX and directed engineering, program, and leadership responsibilities for over 200 engineers on the Cargo Dragon and Crew Dragon spacecraft programs.
The Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the SpaceX Crew Dragon arrived at Launch Complex 39A on 2019-01-22 for a static fire test expected as soon as 2019-01-23.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon uncrewed launch was delayed from 2019-01-17 to provide additional time to complete hardware testing and joint reviews.
The DM-1 Crew Dragon spacecraft will fly without astronauts to test systems in orbit, visit the International Space Station, and then return to Earth.
Prior to the shutdown, SpaceX was scheduled to launch the commercial crew demonstration mission DM-1 on 2019-01-17 to send a Crew Dragon to the International Space Station with no astronauts on board.
NASA set a 2018-11-21 target date of 2019-01-07 for the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission to fly to the ISS without a crew.
SpaceX plans to perform an in-flight abort test between Demo-1 and Demo-2 during which a Crew Dragon will use its abort system to jettison from a Falcon 9 after liftoff.
NASA's revised commercial crew schedules in early August showed SpaceX planning an uncrewed Crew Dragon flight in November followed by a crewed test flight in April 2019.
SpaceX plans to use new Crew Dragon vehicles for initial operational commercial crew missions to build up a stable fleet, then work with NASA to certify vehicles for reuse.
SpaceX planned in February 2017 to fly two people around the Moon on a Crew Dragon spacecraft launched on its Falcon Heavy rocket.
Shotwell mentioned that commercial human spaceflight, particularly with Crew Dragon, is a potential major growth area for SpaceX.
NASA planned an 2018-08-03 announcement of the astronauts who will fly on the crewed test flights of both Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and on the first post-certification missions by both vehicles.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft that will fly SpaceX’s uncrewed flight test arrived in Florida in July 2018 after completing thermal vacuum and acoustics tests at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio.