A new record has been set by SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour in a previous venture it did with NASA, centering on the Crew-8 mission which lasted for almost eight months in the low-Earth orbit. This latest mission had the Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station which was the longest for SpaceX's machine, finally coming home after a long time.
The intended stay of the astronauts and Crew Dragon over at the ISS was only for six months, but several considerations happened in between, including a delay to its splashdown because of weather problems.
SpaceX Crew Dragon Breaks Record for Longest Stay in Orbit
SpaceX confirmed earlier that its Crew Dragon Endeavour already broke the record for spending the longest time in orbit, while docked to the ISS, being the first spacecraft in history to do so. This was announced by the company after it was given a go signal to undock from the space station, spending a total of 232 days on-orbit, with this marking its longest mission for the Dragon.
The total number of days is only shy of eight months, with the Crew Dragon Endeavour seeing as much as seven months and 19 days docked to the space station as it awaits its return together with the Crew-8 members.
Crew-8 is undocking after spending 232 days docked to the space station – the longest mission Dragon has spent on-orbit to-date
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 23, 2024
SpaceX and NASA previously planned to undock the Crew Dragon Endeavour from the space station in the past weeks, but it saw inclement weather for its target splashdown area which is why it faced delays.
NASA, SpaceX Crew-8 Mission is Finally Returning
NASA officially marks the end of the Crew-8 mission which first launched to orbit aboard the Crew Dragon, with the Falcon 9 rocket lifting it off the planet's surface last March. It is now performing its 'departure burns' to move away from the ISS before it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, face its re-entry burn, and splash down on its target location near the Florida coast that will be completed in less than a day.
SpaceX and the Crew Dragon Spacecraft
While SpaceX touted that its rockets are capable of going multiple times to space without the need to discard it after every flight has been one of its most famous features, one of its spacecraft, the Dragon, was only intended for partial reusability. Despite this fact, SpaceX is the current record holder for most time spent in space, particularly with its regular visits and stays to and on the ISS, beating the historic Space Shuttle.
NASA's famed Commercial Crew mission would not be possible without SpaceX's Crew Dragon as it is the spacecraft that carries the astronauts to the ISS, and it is also tasked to bring them back after their mission. SpaceX is the only successful company to do its part in the Commercial Crew program as Boeing saw many problems on its first attempt, which was also a test for the Starliner.
It is already twelve years since SpaceX first launched the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS on the iconic COTS 2 mission, marking its success and the start of many launches toward the orbiting station. SpaceX holds many records but it is adding one with the Crew Dragon today, beating its previous milestone for staying the longest in orbit and docked to the ISS, ending its mission earlier today.
