SpaceX Crew Dragon Breaks Its Record for Longest Stay in Orbit for Nearly 8 Months
- by techtimes
- Oct 24, 2024
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Oct 24 2024, 09:40 AM EDT
Share on Facebook NASA, SpaceX Crew-8 Mission is Finally Returning
NASA officially marks the end of the Crew-8 mission which first launched to orbit aboard the Crew Dragon, with the Falcon 9 rocket lifting it off the planet's surface last March. It is now performing its 'departure burns' to move away from the ISS before it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, face its re-entry burn, and splash down on its target location near the Florida coast that will be completed in less than a day.
SpaceX and the Crew Dragon Spacecraft
While SpaceX touted that its rockets are capable of going multiple times to space without the need to discard it after every flight has been one of its most famous features, one of its spacecraft, the Dragon, was only intended for partial reusability. Despite this fact, SpaceX is the current record holder for most time spent in space, particularly with its regular visits and stays to and on the ISS, beating the historic Space Shuttle.
NASA's famed Commercial Crew mission would not be possible without SpaceX's Crew Dragon as it is the spacecraft that carries the astronauts to the ISS, and it is also tasked to bring them back after their mission. SpaceX is the only successful company to do its part in the Commercial Crew program as Boeing saw many problems on its first attempt, which was also a test for the Starliner.
It is already twelve years since SpaceX first launched the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS on the iconic COTS 2 mission, marking its success and the start of many launches toward the orbiting station. SpaceX holds many records but it is adding one with the Crew Dragon today, beating its previous milestone for staying the longest in orbit and docked to the ISS, ending its mission earlier today.
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