SpaceX celebrated the anniversary of the Dragon capsule, which first joined the ISS eleven years ago. Since then, the American company’s vehicles have become crucial for the station.
It’s an anniversary that testifies to the path SpaceX has traveled in astronautics, but also to the immense role that the company has come to take in the American space program. May 25, 2023 marks the eleventh anniversary of the very first docking of a SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station (ISS).
A moment that the company’s Twitter account has recalled in a tweet published on May 26: “ Dragon was the first private spacecraft in history to visit the ISS 11 years ago today “. The vehicle, at the time, was a demonstration machine: it was to prove SpaceX’s ability to carry out commercial missions on behalf of NASA.
This vessel, codenamed SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2, was also SpaceX’s second test flight. The first consisted of a sort of dress rehearsal before D-Day, without however formally joining the ISS. The machine had tested orbital maneuvers before finishing its race in the Pacific Ocean. This trial took place in December 2010.
Freight and passenger transport
A decade later, SpaceX has made great strides in carrying payloads for the ISS. The Dragon capsule has successfully completed twenty-two missions (with only one failure, in 2015). It has since been replaced by a new version of this freighter, with the Dragon 2 ship. This one exists in two versions: one for freight, the other for passenger transport.
Set up from 2020, the Dragon capsule has already completed seven missions to supply the International Space Station. But it is especially with the extension towards the transport of astronauts that a qualitative leap has been accomplished. There are a total of 10 manned missions (official, tourist and test) as of May 26, 2023. Others are already arriving.
On the passenger side, SpaceX has already transported 38 people between Earth and the ISS – mostly Americans. The company is strongly solicited in this respect. Barely a year ago, this counter was “only” at 24. Other nations have also benefited from the Dragon 2: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, United Arab Emirates, France , Israel, Italy, Japan and Russia.
In fact, SpaceX has become essential for the ISS, for its supply (even if other vehicles are also used). It offers redundancy, being an alternative to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. It also avoids depending on it, which is all the more necessary given the geopolitical context with the war in Ukraine.
SpaceX has a fleet of eight capsules: three are designed for freight, five for the transport of individuals (one is under construction). If the freighters do not have a particular name, the shuttles each have a small name: Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom (Determination, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom in French).
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