SpaceX shows off Dragon capsules for Polaris Dawn, Crew-9 astronaut missions (photos)
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These two Dragons are getting ready to spread their wings.
SpaceX just gave us a look at the Crew Dragon capsules that will fly on the Polaris Dawn and Crew-9 astronaut missions, which are set to launch on Aug. 27 and Sept. 24, respectively.
"Double Dragons readying for flight ahead of the Polaris Dawn and Crew-9 human spaceflight missions," the company wrote in an X post on Wednesday (Aug. 21) that featured two photos of the capsules, side by side in a processing facility on Florida's Space Coast.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris Program, which is funded by billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. The flight will send Isaacman, Scott "Kidd" Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon on a five-day trip to Earth orbit.
Polaris Dawn will feature the first-ever private spacewalk, and it will get up to 435 miles (700 kilometers) from Earth — farther than any crewed mission since the Apollo era. Gillis and Menon will go deeper into the void than any woman ever has before. (The Apollo astronauts were all men.)
The upcoming mission will be the second for Isaacman, who also commanded and funded the Inspiration4 trip to Earth orbit in September 2021. Like Inspiration4, Polaris Dawn will be a free flyer, circling our planet solo rather than linking up with the International Space Station (ISS).
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Crew-9 will be the ninth operational, long-duration astronaut mission that SpaceX flies to the ISS for NASA. It's currently scheduled to send Alexsandr Gorbunov, of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson to the orbiting lab.
That manifest could change, however. NASA is considering using a Crew Dragon to carry astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore home to Earth. The duo flew up on the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule, which experienced thruster problems on its way to the ISS.
If NASA determines that it's too risky to send Williams and Wilmore home on Starliner, they'll launch Crew-9 with only two astronauts aboard. That mission's Crew Dragon will then carry Williams and Wilmore, along with its original two crewmembers, home early next year.
Editor's note: This story was updated on Aug. 22 to amend the launch date. The mission was previously slated to launch on Aug. 26 but is now scheduled for Aug. 27.
