The first astronauts of this NASA Astronaut Group 22 (nicknamed The Turtles) to fly to space, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron on SpaceX Crew-3 took a stuffed turtle as zero-g indicator to pay a tribute to their astronaut group. Additionally, to include the other crew members on board, Matthias Maurer and Tom Marshburn, the turtle was named "Pfau", a German word meaning "Peacock" for Matthias Maurer, who is German, and for Tom Marshburn, who was part of NASA Astronaut Group 19 (nicknamed The Peacocks).

SpaceX Crew-3 was the Crew Dragon's third NASA Commercial Crew operational flight, and its fifth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission successfully launched on 11 November 2021 at 02:03:31 UTC to the International Space Station. It was the maiden flight of Crew Dragon Endurance.

This launch brought the total number of humans who have been to space to more than 600 with Maurer (600) and Barron (601)

Names USCV-3
Mission type ISS crew transport
Operator SpaceX
COSPAR ID 2021-103A
SATCAT no.49407
Mission duration 176 days, 2 hours, 39 minutes, 52 seconds
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Crew Dragon Endurance
Spacecraft type Crew Dragon
Manufacturer SpaceX
Launch mass12,055 kg (26,577 lb)
Crew
Crew size4
Members
Raja Chari
Thomas Marshburn
Matthias Maurer
Kayla Barron
Expedition Expedition 66 / 67
Start of mission
Launch date not a number value UTC (10 November, 9:03:31 pm EDT)
Rocket Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1067.2)
Launch site Kennedy, LC‑39A
End of mission
Recovered by MV Shannon
Landing date 6 May 2022, 04:43:23 UTC (12:43:23 am EDT)
Landing site Gulf of Mexico, near Clearwater, Florida
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Inclination 51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port Harmony forward
Docking date 11 November 2021, 23:32 UTC
Undocking date 5 May 2022, 05:20 UTC
Time docked 174 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes

The third SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program was originally scheduled to launch on 31 October 2021. However, it was delayed to 3 November 2021 due to unfavorable weather in the Atlantic Ocean, and then further delayed to 7 November 2021 due to a minor medical issue with one of the astronauts. Due to expected bad weather, it was again delayed to 9 November 2021.

Due to the launch delays, NASA decided to return the astronauts from Crew-2 before Crew-3 launched, thus being the first Crew Dragon indirect handover of space station crews. SpaceX Crew-2 departed the station on 8 November 2021 and splashed down on 9 November 2021. SpaceX Crew-3 mission launched from Cape Canaveral on 11 November 2021 at 02:03:31 UTC.

The return of Crew-3 was delayed multiple times, from April 2022 to early May. Undocking happened on 5 May (05:20 UTC), with splashdown occurring the following day after spending 176 days in space.

The European segment of the mission is called "Cosmic Kiss".