updates
NASA certifies Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon
On November 10, 2020, SpaceX said NASA had certified Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon for station crew rotations, and listed the test counts behind that decision.
Topics: space-civilization
This page is an original Muskularity summary. It does not republish SpaceX’s full post. Figures are the company’s statements on the cited date unless another primary link is named.
Summary
SpaceX said NASA had certified Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon, with the ground systems, for regular crew flights to and from the station. SpaceX called it the first commercial system to get that designation, and the first NASA certification of a spacecraft, rocket, and ground system for routine astronaut flights since the shuttle, nearly 40 years earlier. The enabling flight named is Demo-2, launched May 30, 2020.
The test inventory SpaceX listed: two flights to the station and back, pad and in-flight escape demonstrations, more than 700 SuperDraco tests, more than 500 soft-capture docking tests, about 8 million hours of hardware-in-the-loop software testing, nearly 100 parachute tests and flights, 20 prior cargo resupply missions, and more than 40 Falcon 9 Block 5 launches. Crew-1 was then targeted for Saturday, November 14, at 7:49 p.m. EST, with Hopkins, Glover, Walker, and Noguchi. The docking post shows the launch actually moving to November 15. Keep both dates: this one is the target on certification day.
Key facts
| Fact | Label |
|---|---|
| NASA certification of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon announced by SpaceX on November 10, 2020 | Company account of a NASA action; NASA release linked |
| More than 700 SuperDraco tests, more than 500 docking tests, about 8 million software-in-the-loop hours | Company test tally |
| Crew-1 then targeted for November 14, 2020, at 7:49 p.m. EST | Target on this date, later flown November 15 |
Why it matters
This is the gate between the Demo-2 test and paid crew rotations. The test counts are SpaceX’s certification narrative. The NASA release is the agency record of the same decision.
On this site
Sources
- SpaceX update, November 10, 2020 — Grade A, company post
- NASA certification feature linked by SpaceX — Grade A, NASA
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