It’s official: SpaceX will no longer craft Crew Dragon capsules. According to Reutersthe company is increasingly pivoting to the production of the Starship, a much larger and more technologically advanced craft.
The end of production but not the end of its use
A SpaceX executive spoke out in an interview with a reporter from Reuters. He explains that the company has chosen to focus its efforts and resources on the development of the Starship, the new generation of spacecraft at SpaceX. Obviously, existing Crew Dragon shuttles will continue to operate. They will still be used to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. For its part, the Starship will be used for transport to the Moon and to Mars.
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SpaceX will not completely abandon the manufacture of certain parts of the Crew Dragon capsule in order to continue to fix the capsules so they can be used the longest time possible. Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, said that “We are currently finishing the manufacturing of our last Crew Dragon capsule, but then we will continue to manufacture certain essential components, which will allow us to restore the capsules to good condition”.
Starship will gradually replace Crew Dragon
As SpaceX’s model relies on reusable gear, it was inevitable that this situation would arise. The existing fleet will therefore be able to carry out all the future missions already scheduled on the schedule. NASA has just extended its contract with SpaceX for continue to transport astronauts to the ISS. The Crew-1, Crew-2 and Crew-3 missions were real successes. SpaceX had already planned to launch Crew-4, Crew-5 and Crew-6 but for a few weeks, Musk’s company has known that it will also be necessary to anticipate the launches of Crew-7, Crew-8 and Crew-9.
In just a few months, the Crew Dragon capsule has established itself as NASA’s primary mode of transportation to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. After each flight, the capsules are refurbished at SpaceX’s facilities in Florida. In a place that society calls “Dragonland”. Garrett Reisman, a former SpaceX executive, points out that with spaceships, “There is a life cycle problem: after the third, fourth, fifth use, we start to discover anomalies”.
This is why SpaceX has every interest in not stopping the production of parts. Garrett Reisman adds that “SpaceX engineers are very good at quickly identifying problems and taking action to resolve them”. He cites a survey conducted in 2021 in which SpaceX discovered and repaired leaking toilet within months aboard a Crew Dragon capsule that had transported humans twice. Now the majority of SpaceX teams will focus on the Starship.