SpaceX has just completed the fastest Dragon astronaut trip to the space station in history.

 

After a smooth arrival with four Crew-4 astronauts aboard on April 27, 2022, SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom is seen docked at the space-facing port on the International Space Station's Harmony module. (Image courtesy of NASA TV)

SpaceX has just set a new record for the quickest Dragon astronaut flight ever.

On Wednesday (April 27), Elon Musk's SpaceX launched four Crew-4 astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in less than 16 hours, the shortest flight time since SpaceX began crewed flights in 2020.

"This is the quickest launch to dock that we've done," NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stitch told reporters after the launch early Wednesday. "It takes about the same amount of time to travel from New York to Singapore, so it's kind of interesting."

SpaceX has just set a new record for the quickest Dragon astronaut flight ever.

In comparison, SpaceX's first crewed flight for NASA, the Demo-2 mission in May 2020, took approximately 19 hours to reach the station, while its most recent Crew-3 mission for NASA took nearly a full day.

"I'd say it's a little bit of luck," Jessica Jensen, SpaceX's vice president of customer operations and integration, said, adding that any delay could have changed the flight time. "You can change the phasing time by 10 to 20 hours just to see what happens in a day or two. We didn't change anything; it's just the orbital mechanics of where the ISS is and where it's heading over Florida."

The Crew-4 mission launched three NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency astronaut to the International Space Station to begin a six-month mission. Crew-4 commander Kjell Lindgren, pilot Bob Hines, mission specialist Jessica Watkins (all from NASA), and European Space Agency mission specialist Samantha Cristoforetti were aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom.

The shorter SpaceX flight occurred just before a spacewalk (an Extravehicular Activity or EVA in NASA parlance) by two Russian cosmonauts outside the space station on Thursday, so getting the Dragon crew docked and settled in quickly was a plus, according to NASA officials.

"This brief meeting was very beneficial to us," Stitch said. "We can get to station a little faster, and we can do the necessary preparations once we arrive."