Ascent to orbit

Just two and a half minutes after lift-off, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster separated from the rocket and touched down around five minutes later on Landing Zone 40 at Kennedy Space Center.

After separation, the second stage ignited and propelled Dragon into orbit, with the crew experiencing about 2 g during this rapid sequence of events. Around nine minutes after lift‑off, once the second stage shut down its engines, a zero‑g indicator – a plush toy named Gaia – began to float inside the capsule, signalling that the crew had reached orbit.