The SpaceX Crew Dragon
is the first spacecraft
from a private company to take humans into space.
In this video, we're gonna take a look inside
and see how it works.
Then we'll see the launch pad,
the journey into space,
and how it docks to the International Space Station.
Dragon, SpaceX, you are go for launch!
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The Crew Dragon is a human rated spacecraft.
This means it's capable of carrying humans into space.
It was created by United States
private company called SpaceX.
The company has its headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
Up until now, space exploration has been done
by government agencies who have billions
of dollars to spend.
SpaceX is really the first private company to break
through this barrier.
They develop both rockets
and spacecraft on their own,
but of course NASA is now under
the largest customers of SpaceX.
All right for some background,
this is the International Space Station
or ISS for short.
It's been in use since the early 2000s
and it must be continuously staffed by astronauts
going to and from the station to get a ride to the ISS
astronauts could launch on
either the United States Space Shuttle
or the Russian Soyuz Spacecraft.
The space shuttle is no longer in operation.
It was retired in 2011.
After that, the Soyuz was the only way to travel to the ISS.
There was no other spacecraft available to take humans
into space.
The year 2020 changed all of this.
The Crew Dragon flew astronauts once again
from American soil.
The Dragon Spacecraft has a few different versions.
First came Dragon One.
This was a cargo spacecraft that brought supplies
to and from the ISS.
It had more than 20 flights bringing cargo to the station.
This version of the spacecraft could not carry humans.
Only cargo. Then came the Dragon 2.
This has two versions, the Cargo Dragon and the Crew Dragon.
The Crew Dragon can carry people and cargo into space.
Cargo Dragon looks very similar,
but it can only hold cargo
so it doesn't need life support,
aboart engines, or controls inside the vehicle.
For this video, we'll be focusing on the Crew Dragon.
That's the part that's most exciting to me
bringing humans into space.
The Crew Dragon is split up into two parts.
This is the capsule and this is the trunk.
The capsule is also known as the pressurized section.
Inside, there's air to breathe
and they keep the temperature nice
and comfortable for the crew.
This is the nose cone.
It's closed for the launch
but they will immediately open it up once they are in space.
This exposes some sensors, thrusters
and the docking mechanism that will be used to attach
to the ISS.
The Dragon capsule has 16 Draco thrusters.
12 of them on the side and then four more
up towards the top.
Draco thrusters are used to change the orientation
of the spacecraft.
They're also used to change the spacecraft's orbit
so they can reach the ISS
at the beginning of a mission and then de orbit
at the end of a mission and come back to Earth.
Additionally, there are eight super Draco engines
and these are significantly more powerful.
If there is an emergency on the launchpad
all the way up until they are in orbit
the super Draco engines can quickly get the crew to safety.
On the bottom is the heat shield.
This will protect the crew
as they enter the Earth's atmosphere
at the end of the mission.
At one point, SpaceX had plans to have landing legs
and extend them through the heat shield.
This is so that the capsule could touch down on land.
This would've been really neat to see.
However, due to cost complexity and time schedule
SpaceX turned away from this idea
and decided to do a splashdown in the water
like other NASA spacecraft have done in the past.
The bottom half of the spacecraft is called the trunk.
There's room for cargo in here
and it helps support the spacecraft.
During the launch, the white half of the trunk
has the radiator panels which help remove heat
from the spacecraft.
The other side covered in blue is the solar panels.
This generates power for the Dragon capsule.
The previous version of Dragon
had solar panels that would unfold once in space.
This can be problematic if the panels ever fail to unfold
so what's kind of nice to have the solar panels directly
on the side just point it
towards the sun and you've got power.
The trunk stays attached for the entire mission.
It's only detached at the very end.
About an hour before splash
down the trunk does not have a heat shield.
It will fall back to the Earth
and burn up as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
To enter the capsule, astronauts use the side hatch.
The Dragon capsule was designed to fit
up to seven people inside.
However, NASA has chosen to use only four of the seats.
This leaves more room to carry cargo underneath the seats
The Crew Dragon has been described as a modern spacecraft.
The seats are customized to the body
of each astronaut and there's a lot of room.
Compare this to the Soyuz spacecraft
which well see for yourself.
There's not a lot of room in there.
If I had the choice, I would choose the Crew Dragon.
Once the astronauts are fully strapped in
these seats will be rotated.
The Crew Dragon can be controlled
by the three touchscreen displays.
Up until this point, most spacecraft have had tons
of physical buttons, lots of knobs,
switches, and dials.
SpaceX has decided to go with the sleek futuristic panels.
There are a few physical controls
just in case the panels fail.
Most of the flying is done autonomously
which means most of it is done by the computers on board.
All goes well.
The astronauts won't need to do much.
Inside the cabin are several windows to look outside
and if you need to use the bathroom in space
you can use the toilet up towards the ceiling.
We don't know too many details here
but let's just say privacy as somewhat limited.
Right in the center is the docking hatch.
This is where the astronauts will go through to get
on board the ISS.
We'll talk more about this later in the video.
The bottom part of the capsule is referred
to as the service section.
This has more electronics and fuel tanks for the spacecraft.
SpaceX designs their spacecraft to be reusable.
Space is hard.
The harshness of space and getting back down to earth.
This usually means that a spacecraft can only be used once
or at least that's how it's usually been done.
You have to build a new one each time
and this costs a lot of money.
With the Crew Dragon Capsule,
it's designed to be reused.
There are handful of vehicles that have been built so far
and they each have a serial number
and they have a name as well.
As of February, 2023,
some of these have been flown more than once.
And Endeavor has been flown three times.
The first time a Crew Dragon has been flown
with a crew on board is May of 2020.
There were two NASA astronauts
on board that successfully docked
to the International Space Station.
Since then, the Crew Dragon has flown more flights
not just from NASA, but there was a flight
of four civilians called Inspiration four
and also a flight from a private space company
called Axiom Space.
At the time of of this video,
there are more missions planned as well.
Things are definitely changing in the space industry.
The Crew Dragon is launched on top of a Falcon nine rocket
which is also made by SpaceX.
This rocket gets its name because of the Millennium Falcon
from Star Wars.
That's pretty cool if you ask me.
The launch takes place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is launch Complex 39A.
It's where some of the most historic launches have
taken place,
but now SpaceX gets to use this launchpad
and it looks just a little bit different now.
NASA has always transported rockets vertically
to the launchpad.
This is called the rollout.
SpaceX has decided to do things
just a little bit differently.
Right next to the launchpad
is the horizontal integration facility.
The Falcon Nine Rocket and Crew Dragon
are assembled in the horizontal position.
Then they are slowly moved on top
of the transporter erector.
Then it's slowly lifted up to the vertical position.
This usually takes several hours.
The Russian Soyuz rocket is transported horizontally.
They've been doing it this way since the 1960s
so this is nothing new.
It's just a bit different from the way that NASA normally
does things here in the US.
On the day of the launch
the astronauts get into their SpaceX spacesuits
And then drive to the launch pad
in a Tesla model X.
Elon Musk founded SpaceX and Tesla
so it's only fitting that astronauts ride
in a Tesla on their way to the SpaceX launch.
This is the fixed service structure.
The astronauts ride up an elevator to get to the top
then walk across the Crew Access Arm
At the end is the white room.
Several technicians will be there to help the astronauts get
into the capsule.
This is called crew ingress.
It's the word they use to describe the crew getting
into the Dragon capsule.
There are four seats.
We have the commander, pilot,
and then two mission specialists
on the very ends.
Once they are all strapped in,
the seats recline their laid back position
ready for the launch.
The commander and pilot are now
in a good position to use the three touchscreens.
They're in their seats about two hours before the launch.
45 minutes before the launch,
the crew access arm is retracted.
35 minutes before the launch,
the propellant begins loading into the Falcon nine Rocket.
Falcon nine is a two-stage rocket.
The first stage is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines.
That's also why they call it the Falcon nine
because there are nine of these engines.
The second stage is powered
by a single Merlin vacuum engine.
They call this a partially reusable rocket.
The goal is to be fully reusable,
but we're not there yet.
The second stage is not reusable
or in other words, it's expendable.
We don't have an easy way to get it back down to the ground.
The first stage, however,
is reusable and in just a minute
I'll show you how this works.
So our full rocket stack here,
the only pieces that are reusable are the capsule
and the first stage.
You can sometimes tell if the first stage is being re reused
because it won't look quite as new.
The most exciting part of every launch is the liftoff.
(inspirational music)
Something you'll hear the controllers say is
the word nominal.
They'll say, we have a nominal launch
or a nominal separation.
This is a very good word to hear.
It means that everything is going as planned.
The first stage shuts off at two minutes and 40 seconds.
This is called MECO or main engine cutoff.
Then the first stage separates.
Then the second stage fires up.
This is what gets us into orbit around the earth.
While this second stage is firing
the first stage makes its way back to the ground.
The first stage uses cold gas thrusters to reorient itself.
This is called the flip maneuver.
Grid fins also come out to help stabilize it.
The first stage will come down over the ocean
so they will have a drone ship waiting
at just the right spot.
The entry burn helps to slow it down through the atmosphere.
This only uses three of the Merlin engines.
And just moments before touchdown,
one more engine lights up for the landing burn
and then the landing legs are deployed
for the final touchdown
the drone ship can make its way back to Florida
so this first stage can be reused on a future mission.
The second stage is going to get the Dragon spacecraft
into orbit around the earth.
This is called orbit insertion.
Second stage cuts off at eight minutes and 50 seconds.
This is called SECO or second engine cutoff.
Shortly after the second stage separates
as we talked about earlier, the second stage is not reused.
It makes its way back down
to the earth and burns up in the atmosphere.
Now keep in mind,
that a lot of these events are happening simultaneously.
The Dragon spacecraft, it's on its own.
Now the nose cone opens
up to expose the docking hatch sensors and thrusters.
The crew will also be weightless for the first time.
Once in orbit, it's time to catch up to the ISS.
Most missions take around 24 hours for this to happen.
The Draco thrusters are used several times to
raise the orbit and close the distance
to the station.
To attach a spacecraft to the station,
they do it in one of two ways.
One is called berthing
and the other is called docking.
First let's talk about birthing.
This is what the original Dragon spacecraft
or Dragon 1 would do.
They would fly right up next to it
and the station's robotic arm would reach
out and grab onto the spacecraft and help bring it in.
This is called berthing.
We just need a little help to join to the station.
Docking is similar
but this time the spacecraft can do it all
on its own without the help of a robotic arm.
This is what the Crew Dragon does.
It's called docking.
Let's take a minute to look at the ISS again.
The Dragon spacecraft will dock
towards the front of the station.
This is called node two or the harmony module.
Attached to it is the pressurized mating adapter
or PMA for short.
There are three of them.
PMA-1 is in the middle of the station
and then at the front is PMA-2 and PMA-3.
The space shuttle actually was last docked here to PMA-2.
This was back in 2011.
Since then, they've added the international docking adapter
or IDA for short.
This uses the newer docking mechanism that Crew
Dragon is also using.
So Crew Dragon is able to dock at two different locations.
Most of the missions so far have docked
to the very front of the station.
In preparation for docking crew,
Dragon will extend the soft capture ring.
Crew Dragon Spacecraft will go through a series
of waypoints
and these are points in space where they will stop
and complete checks to ensure
that the spacecraft is in good condition
to proceed with docking.
First we have Waypoint 0.
This is 400 meters directly below the ISS.
Next is Waypoint 1.
This is 220 meters directly in front of the station.
They will line up along the docking access
always pointing the capsule towards the docking port.
Then they will slowly proceed to Waypoint 2.
This is 20 meters in front of the docking port.
As it slowly moves in
you can see the Draco thrusters firing to keep it
in line with the station.
Once confirmed, then the spacecraft proceeds to dock
but moving only at a few centimeters per second.
Once within five meters of the docking port
they have what's called chop or crew hands off point.
If any aborts are needed at this point
it will be done completely by the onboard computers.
Next, the soft capture ring on the Crew Dragon
makes contact with the station.
This is called soft capture.
We've connected with the station,
but it's not complete yet.
The ring slowly retracts to pull the spacecraft in.
This part is called hard capture.
The 12 hooks will latch to firmly connect it to the station.
It will take about two hours before docking is complete.
First, we fill the vestibule with air.
That's the area between the spacecraft and the station
right inside the international docking adapter.
Once the temperature and pressure have normalized
then the APAS hatch can be opened
and then finally the Dragon hatch.
Now it's time to say hello to the astronauts
that are already on board this station.
(inspirational music)
My name's Jared.
I create 3D animations to show and explain how things work.
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Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.
(inspirational music)