SpaceX Crew-8 was the eighth crewed operational NASACommercial Crew flight and the 13th overall crewed orbital flight of aCrew Dragon spacecraft. The mission launched on March 4, 2024.
The Crew-8 mission was extended to accommodate problems encountered by theBoeing Crew Flight Test during its mission. The crew outfitted the Crew-8 capsule to accommodate two extra astronauts if an emergency occurred prior to Crew-9 docking on September 29, 2024.[6]
Crew-8 was the eighth SpaceX operational mission in theCommercial Crew Program and the 13th overall crewed orbital flight of aCrew Dragon spacecraft.[8] The mission launched at 3:53:38UTC on 4March 2024 (3March, 10:53:38pmEST, local time at the launch site).[9] SpaceX sent the 50th astronaut on this Crew Dragon launch.[10]
The first launch attempt, the day prior was scrubbed at T−03:25:38 due to elevated winds in offshore areas of the flight path.[11][12][13][14]
To make way for a Boeing Starliner as a part of the planned May 6, 2024Boeing Crew Flight Test that would dock to the forward port ofHarmony, the crew relocated Crew Dragon Endeavour to the zenith port ofHarmony on May 2, 2024, docking to the zenith port at 13:46 UTC. After several delays, Starliner docked on June 6, 2024.[17] Boeing Starliner Calypso successfully launched on June 5, 2024, and docked to the forward port ofHarmony on June 6.[18]
Temporary seat structures built and installed on the Crew Dragon using foam, straps, and other station soft goods such as cushions.
TheBoeing Crew Flight Test mission docked with the ISS on June 6, 2024, after experiencing anomalies with its thrusters. Its crew of two remained on the ISS for an unplanned extended stay, while NASA and Boeing evaluated the problems. NASA decided that the uncertainties were too high to have the crew return to Earth on Starliner, so they sent the Crew-9 mission to the ISS with a crew of two, and the Starliner crew then returned to Earth with Crew-9 in March 2025, while Starliner undocked from the ISS and made a successful uncrewed return to Earth in September 2024. This was necessary, because the ISS has only two IDSS ports shared between Dragon and Starliner. However, each ISS crewmember needs a contingency "lifeboat" in the event of an ISS emergency, and uncrewed undocking of the Starliner would leave its crew without a lifeboat. Therefore, NASA directed the crews to install two extra crew positions in the cargo area of the Crew-8 capsule to provide the lifeboat function after Starliner undocks and before Crew-9 docked.[6] Until Crew-9 arrived, they moved to SpaceX Crew-8, their temporaryemergency evacuation spacecraft, and subsequently to Crew-9.[19]
Crew-8 was originally planned to return to Earth in early August after a nominal 180-day mission, but the mission was extended several times. It was extended initially as NASA investigated the CFT situation and again to provide the lifeboat function while Boeing worked to reconfigure Starliner to perform the uncrewed return. The NASA maximum mission time for Crew Dragon is ordinarily 210 days, but NASA extended it to 240 days for this mission. The overlap after Crew-9 arrived was slightly longer than usual to allow time to reconfigure Crew-8 and Crew-9 as the Starliner astronauts moved to Crew-9. The return of Crew-8 was delayed for several additional weeks due to poor weather conditions in the splashdown zones surrounding Florida caused byHurricane Milton and several other storms.[20] The cumulative delays caused Crew-8 to become the longest Dragon mission.
Crew-8 undocked from the ISS on October 23, 2024, at 21:05UTC. After completing 3,760 orbits and traveling nearly 100 million miles (160 million kilometers),Endeavour began its entry back into the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in theGulf of Mexico, nearPensacola, Florida on October 25, 2024, at 07:29:02UTC (3:29:02amEDT, local time at the landing site).[21]
During the parachute deploy sequence it was observed that the opening of main parachute was delayed. Additionally drogue debris strikes were observed.[22]
The capsule taken aboard the recovery shipMV Megan. After the crew exited the spacecraft, they were taken into the ship's onboard medical treatment facility for evaluations. After that check-up, NASA flew all of the crew members to the Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola by helicopter for additional evaluation. One astronaut was hospitalized, but NASA declined to provide the individual's condition or identity. NASA said that the entry and splashdown was normal and the recovery of the crew and the spacecraft was without incident.[23] The astronaut was released from the hospital the following day and was said to be in "good health".[24]
^From an orbital dynamics perspective, the forward port is easier to approach, and therefore, new vehicles use this approach for their first docking. TheBoeing StarlinerCalypso was scheduled to make its first docking to the ISS during theBoeing Crew Flight Test in June 2024; therefore, Crew-8 relocated to the zenith port to clear the forward port for Boe-CFT.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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Matthew Dominick,NASA
Alexander Grebenkin,Roscosmos
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