SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo 2 Launch Date: What We Know So Far

The SpaceX Crew Dragon’s Demo 1 launch proved to be one of the most successful events in the space industry this year. The mission, spearheaded by Elon Musk’s company, was a preview to the future of space navigation.

According to Space.com, the Crew Dragon capsule flawlessly docked with the International Space Station (ISS), 27 hours since SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA’s historic Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The capsule flew with its first “passengers,” a dummy astronaut called “Ripley” and the plush toy “Earth.” The ISS crew was able to navigate the interiors of the Crew Dragon capsule without any problem, congratulating the SpaceX team back on Earth.

Due to this, discussions on the crucial and perhaps more important SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo 2 launch is now ongoing. Here’s what we know so far.

The second major launch of the capsule will be spearheaded by NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, along with crewmate Doug Hurley. The Crew Dragon Demo-2 is scheduled to launch later this year, and the mission is set to be the first private spacecraft to bring humans to space.

"It was just super-exciting to see it. Just one more milestone that gets us ready for our flight coming up here," Behnken said on NASA TV (via NBC News) after Crew Dragon’s successful ISS docking.

However, there’s a chance that the Demo 2 will still be an unmanned mission. According to The Verge, the next launch is seen as a way to test the capsule’s “in-flight abort” scenario which will simulate the situation where the Falcon 9 could experience a problem during flight. The success of the demo will determine if Crew Dragon can safely “taxi” astronauts to the ISS.

A successful Crew Dragon mission can re-energize the U.S. space industry which last saw the NASA Space Shuttle bring astronauts to the ISS back in 2011. Today, NASA relies on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to bring its astronauts to space. This is a very expensive option for the American agency.

Due to this, NASA has supported and partially funded private companies aiming to bring their spacecraft in orbit. Two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, were awarded by NASA with billion-dollar commercial crew contracts to start building its spaceships.

The Crew Dragon is based on SpaceX’s Dragon freighter, which has successfully brought supplies to the ISS for years.