SpaceX to End Crew Dragon Production
SpaceX is ending production of new Crew Dragon astronaut capsules.
As Reuters reports, Elon Musk's company instead plans to focus on its next-generation Starship program, capping the Crew convoy at four.
"We are finishing our final (capsule), but we still are manufacturing components, because we'll be refurbishing," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell explained. The company may, of course, build more spacecraft in the future if necessary, but for now, "fleet management is key."
At least four more private Crew Dragon missions are planned with Axiom Space, which is scheduled to launch four entrepreneurs to the Space Station next month in its first Ax-1 mission. Add to that NASA paying SpaceX $3.5 billion to develop and use Crew Dragon for nine flights to the ISS (including three to fill in for Boeing's delayed Starliner capsule).
Since its first flight in 2020, the reusable Crew Dragon has regularly carried astronauts to and from the International Space Station. After each trip, the capsules undergo post-flight refurbishment at SpaceX's Florida facility known as "Dragonland."
"There's lifetime cycle issues, where once you start using it the third, fourth, fifth time, you start finding different things," retired NASA astronaut and former SpaceX executive Garrett Reisman said in a statement to Reuters. "SpaceX is really good about identifying those issues quickly and then acting quickly to fix them."
Starship's launch license and experimental permit, meanwhile, were waylaid in December when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it needed more time to complete an environmental review. Starship and its Super Heavy booster "represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth
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