SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to have continued space presence starting this year

Days after NASA confirmed SpaceX was on track for a Crew Dragon launch on November 14 and Cargo Dragon 2’s first launch on December 2, a company executive said the back-to-back launch was a sign of things to come.

The first semi-functional Dragon spacecraft flew over a decade ago in December 2010, followed some 18 months later by the vehicle’s second orbital mission, in which SpaceX became the first private company in history. launch and dock a spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS). Four months later, Cargo Dragon successfully docked with the ISS for the second time as part of SpaceX’s first NASA Commercial Refueling Services (CRS-1) mission, starting what would become an extraordinarily series. successful completion of 19 operational space station refueling operations, delivering just under 45 metric tons (~ 100,000 lbs) in total.

SpaceX completed its entire NASA CRS1 contract in April 2020, effectively withdrawing the first-generation Dragon spacecraft. Less than two months later, Crew Dragon – an upgraded “ Dragon 2 ” spacecraft – took off for its second orbital mission and astronaut launch debut, the flawless completion of which made SpaceX the premier venture. deprived of certified history to pilot astronauts by a national. space agency. Now, perhaps just over two weeks apart, SpaceX is on track to attempt its first operational astronaut launch. and the first launch of an upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft under a new NASA CRS2 cargo contract.

Speaking in a November 10 press conference call focused primarily on the imminent start of Crew Dragon’s operational launch, SpaceX executive Benji Reed – taking a position of well-deserved trust – revealed impressive details about what to do with it. what to expect from Dragon in the future.

“Over the next 15 months, we will complete seven Crew and Cargo Dragon missions for NASA. This means that from Crew-1 there will be a continued presence of SpaceX Dragons in orbit. Starting with the CRS-21 cargo mission, every time we launch a Dragon there will be two Dragons in space – simultaneously – for extended periods of time. Really, we are giving back the capacity of the United States for full launch services and we are very, very honored to be a part of it.

Benji Reed, SpaceX – November 10, 2020

In short, SpaceX has Seven Dragon launches are scheduled between November 2020 and January 2022, requiring an average cadence of one Dragon mission every two months or so. To accomplish this feat, SpaceX will begin to delve into reuse, reusing both crew and cargo dragons. and the Falcon 9 boosters responsible for launching them. The first of these reuses is scheduled for March 2021, during which four astronauts will launch a flight-proven thruster, inside a flight-proven orbital spacecraft, to the International Space Station.

Meanwhile, thanks to NASA plans to extend the time the unequipped Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft spends in orbit at the ISS and an average of two six-month Crew Dragon missions per year, SpaceX could end up to maintain a continuous presence in space from November 14. As Reed notes, this also means that both dragons will operate simultaneously in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) whenever SpaceX launches a Cargo Dragon resupply mission.

Roscosmos, Russia’s national space agency, is the only other entity on Earth that can claim a similar capability – now used to simultaneously operate multiple Soyuz crews and a Progress spacecraft in orbit after nearly a decade of serving as the sole bridge between Earth and the ISS. . If the launches of SpaceX Crew-1 Crew Dragon and CRS-21 Cargo Dragon are successful, the private US company will effectively become the backbone of US spaceflight, almost single-handedly reaffirming the country’s position as a space power. competitive.