SpaceX will reuse the fleet of four ships that already exist. Now he will concentrate on making his Starship ships for flights to the Moon and Mars.
SpaceX will no longer build new Crew Dragons , the spacecraft that transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), and will instead focus on repurposing the fleet of four that already exists.
According to a Reuters report, SpaceX plans to continue making Crew Dragon components for its refurbishment and will be able to make more astronaut capsules only if needed, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said.
Transport to the ISS
Crew Dragon capsules have carried humans into space on five separate missions since their 2020 debut, including Inspiration4 , a private manned mission funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman.
Crew Dragon is also the only reusable vehicle used by NASA to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. SpaceX secured the six-mission Commercial Crew Transport Capability (CCtCap) contract with the agency in 2014, and NASA ordered three additional Crew Dragon missions from the company in February. In total, SpaceX will get around $3.5 billion for the nine separate missions.
Currently, SpaceX has a monopoly on manned space flights to the ISS. While Boeing has also received a CCtCap contract from NASA, its proposed manned spacecraft, Starliner, has been plagued by technical delays that have even halted a test flight .
While the company wraps up production of the Crew Dragon, it continues to work hard on the development of the next-generation ultra-super-heavy Starship launch system . SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the company is targeting May for the first orbital flight test of the new spacecraft, but the company is still awaiting key regulatory approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration before that. can be carried out.