Crew Dragon Demo-1 was the first orbital test of the Dragon 2 spacecraft. This first spaceflight was an uncrewed mission that launched on 2 March 2019 at 07:49:03 UTC or 02:49:03 EST, and arrived at the International Space Station on 3 March 2019, a little over 24 hours after the launch. The mission ended following a successful splashdown on 8 March 2019 at 13:45:08 UTC or 08:45:08 EST. During a separate test, on 20 April 2019, the capsule used on Crew Demo-1 was unexpectedly destroyed when firing the SuperDraco engines at Landing Zone 1.
Mission
The spacecraft tested the approach and automated docking procedures with the International Space Station, consequent undocking from the ISS, full re-entry, splashdown and recovery steps to provide data requisite to subsequently qualify for flights transporting humans to the ISS. Life support systems were being monitored all throughout the test flight. The same capsule was planned for re-use in an in-flight abort test, but it was destroyed in an accident during a static fire test of its SuperDraco thrusters. The mission was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket contracted by NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Initial plans had hoped to see CCDev2 flights as early as 2015. DM-1 was eventually slated for no earlier thanDecember 2016, and then delayed several times throughout 2017. The first exact date was published by NASA in November 2018 to be 17 January 2019, but this got pushed into February 2019. The static fire took place on 24 January 2019 and the launch date was set to 23 February 2019. By the end of January 2019, the launch was delayed to no earlier than 2 March 2019 according to a FCC filing by SpaceX for Dragon 2 capsule telemetry, tracking, and command. DM-1 passed its Flight Readiness Review and Launch Readiness Review on 22 February 2019 and 27 February 2019 respectively. The Falcon 9 with DM-1 rolled out to the LC-39A on 28 February 2019 at around 15:00 UTC and went vertical a few hours later. The spacecraft was launched on 2 March 2019 at 07:49:03 UTC and successfully docked to the ISS on 3 March 2019 at 10:51 UTC. The Dragon 2 capsule successfully undocked from the ISS on 8 March 2019 at 07:32 UTC, performed entry into the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean about off Florida's east coastlater that day at 13:45:08 UTC. The capsule was recovered using SpaceX's recovery ship GO Searcher and was returned to the mainland where it was examined and the data collected by the on board sensors was analyzed.
Payload
Instead of carrying astronauts to the ISS, this flight had an Anthropomorphic Test Device wearing SpaceX's custom flight suit. The ATD is named Ripley, as a homage to Sigourney Weaver's character in the Alien movies franchise. The capsule was weighted similarly to missions with astronauts onboard and carried approximately of supplies and equipment including a "super high tech zero-g indicator". The "zero-g indicator" was left onboard the ISS after undocking, while Ripley returned safely to Earth on 8 March 2019.
