Each new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has a name, like American space shuttles. The capsule of the Crew-4 mission has found one, it will be “Freedom”.
Since the days of the space shuttles, it has been customary to name reusable space vehicles. We knew columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor. But now the time of the shuttles is over for more than ten years, and in the United States it is now Crew Dragon which has replaced them to take a crew in orbit.
The first manned orbital flight took place in 2020 for the Demo-2 mission with on board Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, two astronauts who have both flown on space shuttle Endeavor in the past. It is therefore this name that they have chosen symbolically to name the first operational Crew Dragon capsule. Crew Dragon Endeavor flew a total of two times, and took Thomas Pésquet around the international space station (ISS) and must fly again this year.
Thereafter, the crews succeeded one another towards the ISS, and with each new capsule still unused, a new nickname. The fleet of SpaceX was then supplemented with capsules named Resilience, then Endurance, the latter having launched the crew of Crew-3 with Mathias Maurer, astronaut of theESA on board.
FREEDOM!! Crew-4 will fly to the International Space Station in a new Dragon capsule named “Freedom.” The name celebrates a fundamental human right, and the industry and innovation that emanates from the unencumbered human spirit. 1/ pic.twitter.com/uMVzeS0rp1
— Kjell Lindgren (@astro_kjell) March 23, 2022
Crew-4 is scheduled to leave for the ISS in mid-April with ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti on board for its second flight to the Station. The capsule is new, and the crew has already decided on a name. It will be Freedom.
Alongside the Italian astronaut will be present the astronauts of the Nasa Kjell Lindgren, the commander for his second flight, and Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins, who will both experience space travel for the first time.
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