SpaceX says it will no longer make new vehicles from the Crew Dragon capsule, the spacecraft the company uses to transport people to and from the International Space Station. According to a report in Reuters† For now, the plan is to keep the Crew Dragon’s human transport fleet at four, which SpaceX will fly back again and again to take crews into space.
We are working on the final [capsule]but we’re still making the components because we’re going to renovate,” said Gwen Shotwell, president of SpaceX Reuters† After each flight of the Crew Dragon, the spacecraft has to undergo a facelift in Florida, with some hardware being modified or swapped out to get the spacecraft ready to fly again. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
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SpaceX initially developed the Crew Dragon for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to catalyze the creation of special vehicles to transport agency astronauts back and forth from the International Space Station. As part of this program, SpaceX has launched four crews of NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on the Crew Dragon. Last September, the company launched its first all-private crew, carrying four civilian astronauts into orbit on a three-day flight.
The company has planned numerous future flights for four Crew Dragons, each named by the crew of the first astronauts: Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom.
In about a week, a commercial space station company called Axiom will have a crew of Four private astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon to the space station for a 10-day journey† Axiom has a contract with: SpaceX launches at least three additional human missions to the International Space Station On Crew Dragon after that first. Meanwhile, SpaceX still has a contract with NASA to launch crews to the International Space Station every six months and then take them home. In February, NASA SpaceX has given three extra human missions with Crew Dragon For the International Space Station, the SpaceX Summit Six was originally contracted to do this. The news brought SpaceX’s Commercial Crew contract with NASA to $3.49 billion.
While SpaceX has temporarily halted production of the Crew Dragon, significant resources are being invested in developing the company’s new Starship rocket, a massive new vehicle designed to transport people and cargo to distant space destinations such as the Moon and Mars. transport. However, Shotwell says: Reuters That SpaceX can always reproduce the Crew Dragon when needed.
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