Crew-7
Crew-7 launched on 26 August 2023 from Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9, carrying Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, Andreas Mogensen of ESA, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA and Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos. Their Dragon Endurance docked autonomously with the International Space Station on 27 August.
What happened
All times local
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Watch this moment · 20:26
The crew boards
A launch attempt the day before had been stood down for further data reviews. On launch day weather was forecast 95 per cent favourable and the window was instantaneous. After the crew access arm retracted, the crew armed the launch escape system, which uses eight SuperDraco thrusters.
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Watch this moment · 1:02:00
Liftoff
Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A. During the count, commentators reported a sensor issue on the first stage. Teams discussed it and the countdown continued.
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Watch this moment · 1:04:35
Max Q and separation
Crew-7 passed Max Q and the speed of sound. The stages separated, and Moghbeli called the abort mode "2 Alpha". The first stage landed at Landing Zone 1, and the second stage reached orbit at roughly 8 minutes 50 seconds.
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Watch this moment · 1:15:00
A message from the crew
Moghbeli thanked the SpaceX team from orbit and said that although the four came from four nations, they were a united team. Dragon's nose cone then opened.
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Watch this moment · 9:29
Five burns to raise the orbit
About 50 minutes after launch Dragon made the phase burn, the first of five major burns using its Draco thrusters. The burns walked the capsule up to an orbit about 2.5 kilometres below the station.
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Watch this moment · 20:45
Approach and waypoints
An approach initiation burn of about 90 seconds took Dragon to Waypoint 0, about 400 metres below the station, then up to Waypoint 1 at 220 metres and Waypoint 2 at 20 metres from the docking adapter. Entering the approach ellipsoid and the keep-out sphere each needed a go and a safe-trajectory check.
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Watch this moment · 2:06:06
Docking
Dragon Endurance made soft capture and then hard capture with twelve hooks driven six at a time. Woody Hoberg monitored from the station's cupola. The crew thanked the teams after docking.
Key facts
| Vehicle | Crew Dragon, Falcon 9 |
|---|---|
| Mission name | Crew-7 |
| Launch site | Kennedy Space Center LC-39A |
| Crew | Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa, Konstantin Borisov |
| Crew size | 4 |
| Outcome | Success |
Videos about this mission
The videos, in date order
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August 2023
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Dates are when each video was first published on YouTube.
The crew
Jasmin Moghbeli was commander, on her first spaceflight. Andreas Mogensen of ESA was pilot, the first time an ESA astronaut had served as Dragon pilot, according to video 407. Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA had already spent 165 days in orbit on Expeditions 28 and 29 in 2011. Konstantin Borisov, a Roscosmos cosmonaut selected in 2018, was on his first flight. Their patch shows a white dragon with the neck shaped like the number seven and the colours of the four nations' flags on its tail.
A day and a half to the station
Dragon flew on its own for almost thirty hours, with the crew able to take manual control. The approach follows a fixed ladder: a go or no-go for the approach ellipsoid, a trajectory safe for 24 hours, and a keep-out sphere of 200 metres' radius that needs a trajectory safe for four orbits. Just before docking comes "chop", the crew's hands-off point; after it, Dragon would handle any abort itself.
The rest of the mission is not covered by these two videos. The public record has Endurance undocking on 11 March 2024 and splashing down off Pensacola, Florida, on 12 March.
What came next
Questions and answers
When did Crew-7 launch?
At 3:27 a.m. Eastern on 26 August 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Who flew on Crew-7?
Jasmin Moghbeli (NASA, commander), Andreas Mogensen (ESA, pilot), Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA) and Konstantin Borisov (Roscosmos).
What was the Dragon called?
Endurance.
How long did it take to reach the station?
About 30 hours. Dragon docked at 9:16 a.m. Eastern on 27 August 2023.
What was new about the crew?
Per the SpaceX webcast, it was the first Dragon flight with every seat filled by a different partner agency, and the first time an ESA astronaut served as Dragon pilot.
Sources: The facts and written text on this page come from the 2 videos on this page, by SpaceX.
