Historic space capsule is being taken out of production. When the fourth capsule is ready, Spacex will be fully focused on getting the Starship up and running.
On May 30, 2020, astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken were launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. It became a historic day, when Spacex became the first commercial player to transport personnel to the International Space Station.
Astronauts boarded the SpaceX Crew Dragon space capsule, which can take up to seven passengers into orbit. Since then, four more manned spaceflights with Crew Dragon capsules have been completed.
The company is now in the process of completing a fourth Crew Dragon, and likely the last to be manufactured.
“We’re completing our last capsule, but we’re still making the components, as we’ll be doing upgrades,” Spacewin’s chief operating officer, Gwen Shotwell, told Reuters.
The spacecraft is in orbit soon
So far, the capsules have been modified and improved after each trip, and even if the vehicle is reusable, some components have to be replaced between trips.
She adds that the company will have the ability to build more capsules in the future, but the focus is now on developing the new Starship rocket.
Spacex CEO and founder Elon Musk recently stated that the company hopes to be able to conduct a flight test that will take the Starship into orbit sometime in May.
The spacecraft’s first orbital flight will be using Raptor 2 engines, as they are more capable and reliable. 230 tons or 500 kilo pounds at sea level.
We’ll have 39 flightable engines by next month, and then another month to integrate them, so hopefully for orbital flight testing.
– Elon Musk March 21, 2022
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