Crew Dragon ''Freedom'' (serial number C212) is the fourth operational

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consi ...

reusable spacecraft manufactured and operated by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

. It first launched on 27 April 2022 to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) on the

SpaceX Crew-4 SpaceX Crew-4 was the SpaceX Dragon 2, Crew Dragon's fourth NASA Commercial Crew Program, Commercial Crew operational flight, and its seventh overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 27 April 2022 at 07:52 UTC before docking with t ...

mission. It was subsequently used for two private spaceflight missions to the ISS operated by

Axiom Space Axiom Space, Inc., also known as Axiom Space, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2016 by former CEO Michael T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian, the company first flew a spa ...

, Axiom Mission 2 in May 2023 and

Axiom Mission 3 Axiom Mission 3 (or Ax-3) was a private spaceflight to the International Space Station. The flight launched on 18 January 2024, and lasted for 21 days, successfully splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. It was operated by Axiom Space and used a ...

in January 2024. It most recently launched to space in September 2024 on the

SpaceX Crew-9 SpaceX Crew-9 was the ninth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight and the 15th crewed orbital flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Originally scheduled to carry a crew of four to the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-August 2024 ...

mission. The capsule was named after the fundamental human right of freedom and the

Freedom 7 Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...

capsule that took astronaut

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astr ...

on the first human spaceflight from the United States.

History

On 23 March 2022, it was announced that Dragon C212 had been given the name ''Freedom''. Astronaut Kjell Lindgren said that the name was chosen because it celebrates a fundamental human right, and the industry and innovation that emanate from the unencumbered human spirit. The name also honors ''

'', the space capsule used by

's Mercury Redstone 3, the first United States

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

mission (May 5, 1961). On 16 April 2022, ''Freedom'' was transported from SpaceX's processing facility in

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

to Launch Complex 39A at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

. ''Freedom'''s maiden flight,

, was originally scheduled for 20 April 2022 but was delayed to 23 April due to launch preparations. The mission was later delayed again because the docking port needed for arrival (''

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

'' zenith port) was occupied by Crew Dragon ''Endeavour'' on Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1). Ax-1's departure, originally set for 19 April, was delayed until 25 April due to bad weather in the recovery zones in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. ''Freedom'' successfully launched for SpaceX Crew-4 on 27 April 2022.

Flights

List includes only completed or currently manifested missions. Dates are listed in

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

, and for future events, they are the earliest possible opportunities (also known as dates) and may change.

References

External links

* SpaceX Dragon 2 Individual space vehicles NASA spacecraft Crewed spacecraft {{Spacecraft-stub