SpaceX performed the Crew Dragon Launch Escape Demonstration - without any astronauts onboard - on 19 January 2020 launching on a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:30 a.m. from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. This test demonstrated Crew Dragon’s ability to carry crew to safety in the event of an emergency on ascent. This test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities is designed to provide data toward NASA certifying the spacecraft to begin carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. In May 2015, SpaceX completed a Crew Dragon pad abort demonstration.

For this test, Falcon 9’s ascent trajectory mimicked a Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station to best match the physical environments the rocket and spacecraft will encounter during a normal ascent. However, SpaceX configured Crew Dragon to intentionally trigger a launch escape after Max Q, the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket.

Following Crew Dragon’s separation, the Falcon 9 rocket aerodynamically broke up offshore over the Atlantic Ocean. The Crew Dragon spacecraft safely parachuted into the ocean about ten minutes after liftoff.