SPACE X CREW DRAGON CAPSULE

Subject: Science & tech

Context: SpaceX launches its third astronaut crew, the first on a used Crew Dragon capsule.

Concept:

SpaceX launched its third crew of astronauts to the International Space Station early Friday morning, reusing a Crew Dragon space capsule to fly humans for the first time.
The mission, dubbed Crew-2, is the latest flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and will add four more astronauts to the orbital space station.

Crew Dragon:

It is a part of the Dragon 2, a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.
It is the fifth class of US spacecraft to take human beings into orbit, after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
The rocket, named Falcon 9, which carried the spaceship into the orbit, was also built by SpaceX.
It is done under the Demo-2 Mission of NASA and SpaceX.

Crew-2 Mission

It is a part of collaboration between NASA and SpaceX under the Commercial Crew Program.
It is the second crew rotation of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the first with international partners.

Commercial Crew Program

Its main objective is to make access to space easier in terms of its cost, so that cargo and crew can be easily transported to and from the ISS, enabling greater scientific research.
The NASA plans to lower its costs by sharing them with commercial partners such as Boeing and SpaceX through Commercial Crew Program.
It gives the companies incentive to design and build the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS).
NASA can focus on building spacecraft and rockets meant for deep space exploration missions.