SpaceX is about to perform its fourth official manned mission on April 19, sending 4 crew members to the International Space Station. The name of the new manned Dragon spacecraft that is responsible for docking with the space station has been released, named Freedom.
The First Dragon manned misson was on May 31, 2020
On May 31, 2020, SpaceX’s first manned Dragon spacecraft Endeavour (No. C206) launched the Demonstration 2 mission, bringing 2 NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) successfully, marking the United States since 2011. The space shuttle will perform manned flight on the mainland for the first time since its retirement.
Afterwards, Endeavour launched the manned 2 mission on April 23, 2021, and reused the spacecraft to send 4 crew members to the International Space Station; the next Endeavour is expected to perform a mission on April 3 this year. Axiom 1 (Ax-1) mission, originally planned by Tom Cruise for the filming of this flight, was later announced to be changed to the next time.
The second manned Dragon spacecraft is Resilience (No. C207), which carries out Manned 1 and Inspiration 4 missions, the former sending 4 crew members to the International Space Station, and the latter is the world’s first all civilians, manned missions.
The third manned Dragon spacecraft is Endurance (No. C210), which already flew for the first time on November 11, 2021 to perform the manned No. 3 mission, sent four crew members to the International Space Station.
Now, the 4th manned Dragon spacecraft is confirmed to be named Freedom (No. C211), and will perform the SpaceX Crew-4 mission on April 19, bringing 3 NASA astronauts and 1 ESA Astronauts sent to the International Space Station.
Manned 4 will be SpaceX’s fifth manned mission for NASA, and if included in the Inspiration 4 private program, it will be the sixth manned flight of the Dragon spacecraft series.
