A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that twice splashed down has now landed for its final time — in Chicago.
The capsule, which flew two uncrewed missions to ship cargo to and from the International Space Station, arrived at the Museum of Science and Industry (opens in new tab) (MSI) in Illinois on Thursday (Dec. 1) for its everlasting exhibit. The Dragon will be part of different historic spacecraft within the museum’s Henry Crown Area Heart when it debuts on public show within the spring of 2023.
“On behalf of the MSI group I wish to specific my deep gratitude for this present from SpaceX,” Chevy Humphrey, president and chief government officer of the Museum of Science and Business, mentioned on Thursday throughout a ceremony celebrating the capsule’s supply. “The SpaceX spacecraft will undoubtedly spark the curiosity and creativity of future engineers, makers, scientists and people who will create the sustainable options that propel us ahead.”
“I am unable to await the everlasting exhibition to open,” mentioned Humphrey.
The Dragon becoming a member of the MSI assortment, which SpaceX had assigned the serial quantity C113, was the thirteenth and final first-generation cargo capsule produced by the corporate. Of the identical design because the Dragon that turned the world’s first industrial spacecraft to orbit Earth and be recovered intact, C113 flew to the Worldwide Area Station twice.
On its first Business Resupply Companies (CRS) flight for NASA in August 2017, C113 lifted off on the CRS-12 mission carrying greater than 6,400 kilos (2,900 kilograms) of science gear and crew provides for the station’s Expedition 52 astronauts, together with the Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM) science instrument that was mounted on the outside of the advanced. The Dragon returned to Earth after 31 days and 6 hours in space.
C113 rode once more atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Might 2019, on the CRS-17 mission for NASA (opens in new tab). The Dragon launched with 5,500 kilos (2,500 kg) of cargo for the space station’s Expedition 59 crew, together with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 and STP-H6 (Area Take a look at Program-Houston 6), the latter a communications demo utilizing beams of modulated X-rays. The capsule splashed down after 27 days and 23 hours off of Earth.
In total, the Dragon logged 64 days, 12 hours and 4 minutes on its two missions.
SpaceX retired the first-generation Dragon spacecraft in 2020, changing them with a extra superior mannequin that was able to flying each cargo and astronauts.
“This Dragon spacecraft very a lot embodies an thrilling future for MSI, for the South Facet, for our metropolis and, sure, for space exploration as an entire as we glance to extra lunar and Mars manned missions,” mentioned Samir Mayekar, Deputy Mayor of Chicago. “To have this at our fingertips for all of us Chicagoans and our guests, it’s going to encourage us for our subsequent chapter by way of us being a ‘metropolis of tales.'”
MSI is the third venue to show a first-generation Dragon capsule. The very first Dragon to fly (opens in new tab), C101, as we speak hangs from the ceiling at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. The primary Dragon to berth on the Worldwide Area Station, C102, is among the many flown exhibits in Gateway: The Deep Space Complex (opens in new tab) on the Kennedy Area Heart Customer Complicated in Florida.
The Henry Crown Space Center (opens in new tab) pays tribute to the “desires and drama of space exploration … with mission-flown spacecraft alongside tales and interactives recounting the missions that led us into space, and previewing those that can take us to Mars and past.” The museum is house to Scott Carpenter’s Mercury capsule, “Aurora 7,” (opens in new tab) and the Apollo 8 command module, which carried the primary people to orbit the moon.
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