SpaceX is ending production of Crew Dragon ships, why, when they are still needed?

SpaceX has clearly won its battle with Boeing and its Starliner. The Crew-4 mission is now being prepared, while Starliner has not even passed the test of automatically connecting to the International Space Station (ISS), from which the ship will disconnect again after a few days and land on Earth. The Crew Dragon ships are still the only ones that NASA can use to take astronauts to the ISS, while relations with the Russian Roscosmos are currently at freezing and the Russians have made this clear not only through the statement of the head of the Roscosmos, but also launch of the rocket with the satellite Meridian Mwho was wearing the all-encompassing letter Z. –

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So why is SpaceX canceling the production of Crew Dragon ships? The reason is simple. According to Elon Musek, the fleet of four of these ships will be enough in the future and now the necessary resources and facilities for the production of Starship ships will be available.

So the question is, how long can four Crew Dragon ships last “in circulation”, as it is probably difficult to assume that their production will ever resume. Of course, this is not out of the question, but the future of SpaceX lies in Starship ships. Crew Dragon, meanwhile, has started with the crew five times already, if we count the first test mission for NASA and then purely private in the previous year.

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We can also count on the fact that, despite all the difficulties and delays, the Boeing Starliner will finally be ready (perhaps this year), so NASA will not rely only on SpaceX. In addition, it will continue to produce all the parts that need to be replaced in the Crew Dragon ships after each mission, each of which should last ten starts. So in such circumstances, it looks like the four Crew Dragon ships will actually be enough and could serve long after the Starship has flown with the first humans.

However, the shadow of this is cast by the slow development in recent months, which is due to design changes in the engines as well as bureaucracy or permission from FEW. Just a few days ago, we learned that the publication of the necessary report was again postponed, by one month to the end of April. At the same time, it was originally supposed to be ready by the end of last year, which did not happen, and according to the FAA, tens of thousands of comments from the public are worth the delays. However, the development within the Starship program continues, as does the production of the necessary Raptor and Elon Musk said last weekthat the first orbital test will be possible during May.
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