Crew Dragon C205 is a

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 ...

capsule manufactured and built 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 completed its only flight on January 19, 2020, with the Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test mission where the capsule detached from the

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

B1046 booster at max q using the SuperDraco abort thrusters. This was done to test the functionality of the abort thrusters in an operational rocket launch.

Background

Dragon C205 was originally planned to be used on the Demo-2 mission and the

Crew Dragon C204 Crew Dragon C204 was part of Crew Dragon flight vehicle SN 2-1 (sometimes incorrectly called C201) manufactured and operated by SpaceX and used by NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Used in the uncrewed Demo-1 mission, it was launched atop a Falc ...

capsule was intended to be used for the in flight abort test. However, the Dragon C204 capsule was destroyed during testing which caused

to change the Dragon C205 to this mission and Crew Dragon ''Endeavour'' completed the Demo-2 mission.

In-Flight Abort Test

The In-Flight Abort Test was completed as part of the CCDev by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

to test the

Dragon 2 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 cons ...

launch escape system A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule. It is used in the event of a critical emergency to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiri ...

with the SuperDraco thrusters, before a

capsule could carry astronauts onboard for the Demo-2 mission. The flight path of the rocket was set to imitate a crewed launch in order to match stresses of a normal flight. The launch escape test started with the rocket liftoff at 15:30 (UTC). The launch abort was triggered 90 seconds after liftoff, with C205 splashing down 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 ...

at 15:38 (UTC) after descending under parachutes.

Recovery

The SpaceX recovery ship GO Navigator recovered the capsule where C205 was taken back to Port Canaveral for inspection. While the trunk which separated from the capsule at the flight path apogee of approximately 40 km was recovered by a second recovery ship

GO Searcher MV ''Megan'', formerly known as MV ''GO Searcher'', is one of SpaceX's two Dragon capsule recovery vessels. Owned by SpaceX through Falcon Landing LLC (which also owns SpaceX's fairing recovery vessels and Elon Musk's private jet), this vessel ...

, which returned to the port after the first ship carrying the capsule.

Flights

References

{{SpaceX Individual space vehicles Uncrewed spacecraft SpaceX Dragon 2 NASA spacecraft Cargo spacecraft

Background

In-Flight Abort Test

Recovery

Flights

See also

References