Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / SpaceX Sets New Launch Record with 62nd Mission, Returns Crew-6 Astronauts from ISS

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SpaceX Sets New Launch Record with 62nd Mission, Returns Crew-6 Astronauts from ISS · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:03
  Hi everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Elon Musk
• 0:06
  Podcast. Now we're going to talk about
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  the latest SpaceX Crew Dragon mission, Crew Six, which
• 0:12
  successfully returned from his journey to the International
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  Space Station. Now this mission involved 3
• 0:17
  astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut and it came to a safe
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  conclusion just off the coast of Jacksonville, FL.
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  From the brilliant streak across the sky to the controlled
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  splashdown but at the future of SpaceX human space flights, this
• 0:31
  is something that we are all going to be intrigued about now.
• 0:34
  But before we move on, I'd like to give a shout out to everyone
• 0:37
  who supports this podcast by joining the Elon Musk Investors
• 0:41
  Club. Your contributions enable us to
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  keep this show running every single day, covering the latest
• 0:47
  in technology, space exploration, Tesla X and more.
• 0:51
  And if you'd like to become a part of the Elon Musk Investors
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  Club and continue to make this show possible, go to
• 0:58
  joinclubelon.com. That's join club elon.com.
• 1:04
  Join club elon.com. Now let's get into the details
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  of this mission. Early Monday between 12:05 AM
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  and 12:17 AM, the Dragon Endeavor capsule meet is descent
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  back to Earth, creating a mesmerizing spectacle over the
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  Gulf of Mexico and central Northeast Florida.
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  An observer is even reported hearing Sonic booms as the
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  capsule pierced through the Earth's atmosphere.
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  This marks the fourth trip to space for Dragon Endeavor, which
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  had previously flown missions Axiom 1, Crew Two and Demo Two.
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  And upon touching down of the Atlantic Ocean, Crew 6 Commander
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  Stephen Bowen expressed his gratitude to SpaceX.
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  He said thanks SpaceX. We really appreciate all the
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  support from all the initial training through the launch
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  throughout the mission keeping us abreast of the status of the
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  vehicle and all the support all the way down.
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  Now Stephen Bowen was joined by NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, the
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  United Arab Emirates Sultan Al Niade and Russian Cosmana Andrei
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  Fedyev, and they all closed the Hatch of this capsule and
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  departed from the International Space Station about 17 hours
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  before their grand splashdown. Now, the mission itself had
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  lasted about six months, focusing primarily on scientific
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  experiments and maintenance of the International Space Station.
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  And before reentry, the Dragon Endeavor performed its final of
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  5D orbit burns, sealing its fate for the descent back to Earth.
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  And during this process, the capsules heat shield had to
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  withstand temperatures up to 3500 degrees Fahrenheit.
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  As expected, the plasma layer around the capsule knocked out
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  communications with the crew for about 7 minutes, a standard
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  occurrence during reentry. Now let's talk about the moment
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  the capsule landed. SpaceX teams immediately
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  approached the capsule floating on the Atlantic waters to ensure
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  that no toxic propellants were leaking.
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  Following this, the capsule was hoisted up out of the deck of
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  Spacex's recovery ship Megan, named after NASA astronaut Megan
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  MacArthur. And medical checkouts for the
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  astronauts were done right there on the vessel before they
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  boarded a helicopter back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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  From there, they'll return to NASA's Johnson Space Center in
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  Texas. Now this marks another milestone
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  for SpaceX, which has now flown 11 human spaceflight missions,
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  eight of which were contracted with NASA's Commercial Crew
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  Program. The other three missions, namely
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  inspiration for Axiom 1 and Axiom Two, were focused on
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  private astronauts. The latest mission, Crew Seven,
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  was launched just over a week ago with astronauts from NASA,
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  the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration
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  Agency, and a cosmonaut from Ross Cosmos.
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  Florida's next planned liftoff is a United Launch Alliance
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  Atlas 5 rocket, which was recently grounded due to
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  hurricane. Now this is a part of a national
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  security mission involving the US Space Force and the National
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  Reconnaissance Office. In addition, SpaceX plans to
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  launch another Falcon 9 carrying a batch of Starlink satellites
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  from Cape Canaveral Space Forest Station.
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  And SpaceX is having a banner year.
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  That only did the company successfully bring back the crew
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  from the ISS, but it also launched 62nd mission of the
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  year, putting 21 more Starlink satellites into orbit.
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  SpaceX is really pushing the envelope in terms of what's
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  possible in space exploration and satellite development.
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  The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center
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  in Florida at 10:47 PM on Monday.
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  This is Spacex's 62nd launch this year, setting a new yearly
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  record for the company, outdoing its previous record sent last
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  year. In 2022, the first stage of the
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  Falcon 9 returned to a drone ship about 9 minutes after
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  liftoff, showcasing once again the capability of reusable
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  rockets, and the upper stage deployed the 21 satellites into
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  low Earth orbit roughly an hour after liftoff.
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  And according to information available on Spacex's website,
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  this mission also marked a significant milestone for the
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  Falcon Nine's first stage booster.
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  It was its 10th launch and landing earlier on Monday as we
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  were discussing Spacex's Dragon spacecraft successfully returned
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  for astronauts from the International Space Station.
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  The crew had been there for 186 days following their launch in
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  March, engaging in an array of tasks, from space walks to
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  scientific experiments and station management.
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  Now, in a post on his X platform formerly known as Twitter, Elon
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  praised the incredible work that SpaceX has done.
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  SpaceX, as this year, has been responsible for delivering
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  approximately 80% of all Earth payload mass to orbit.
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  To put that into perspective, China supplied about 10%, with
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  the rest of the world contributing the remaining 10%.
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  That's huge, and they're aiming to escalate the launch frequency
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  for 10 Falcon flights per month by the end of this year, and to
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  push it to 12 per month by 2024. And according to the current
• 5:56
  stats, SpaceX has completed a total of 261 launches at 223
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  landings with 195 total reflights.
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  That's the type of innovation that sets the stage for
• 6:07
  ambitious goals like Mars colonization with the Starship,
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  which has always been a longterm vision for SpaceX and Elon Musk.
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  Now looking at the future, the next Starlink launch is Friday
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  and taking off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and is for
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  collaborations with NASA. The next one is slated for at
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  least February of 2024, during which SpaceX will transport the
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  crew 8 astronauts to the International Space Station.
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  And yes, the hardware allocations for the Dragon and
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  Falcon rockets are already in the planning stages.
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  So summing this all up, whether it's bringing astronauts back to
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  the Earth or setting new records and satellite launches, SpaceX
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  is propelling everybody into a new era of space exploration as
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  missions like these that add building blocks to the
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  foundation of the future, where travel to the moon, travel to
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  Mars and beyond are all a possibility now, It's incredible
• 7:00
  to think that we're living through this right now in an age
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  where all of this is happening right before our eyes.
• 7:07
  So thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Elon
• 7:10
  Musk Podcast. Don't forget to hit the
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  subscriber follow button on whatever podcast platform you're
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  tuning in from. It's free, really just takes a
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  If you're interested in being a part of this journey and getting
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  even more behind the scenes content, remember to check out
• 7:28
  the Elon Musk Investors Club at joinclubeloncom.
• 7:32
  Now until next time, keep looking U take care of
• 7:35
  yourselves and each other and I'll see you in the next one.