SpaceX reveals the name of its new Crew-4 Dragon capsule, which will have the mission of taking a group of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) next month. The spacecraft has been named Freedom and is inspired by the capsule that sent the first American into space, astronaut Alan Shepard.
Thus, this will be the first flight of the Crew Dragon Freedom, which will take to the ISS the crew composed of NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, as well as the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti . This news was communicated by Lindgren, commander of the mission.
“The name celebrates a fundamental human right, the industry and innovation that emanate from the untrammeled human spirit,” he noted on Twitter. “Through the Commercial Crew Program, NASA and SpaceX have restored a national capability and we honor the ingenuity and hard work of those involved. Alan Shepard flew on Freedom 7 at the dawn of human spaceflight. We are honored to bring Freedom to a new generation.”
FREEDOM!! Crew-4 will fly to the International Space Station in a new Dragon capsule named “Freedom.” The name celebrates a fundamental human right, and the industry and innovation that emanate from the unencumbered human spirit. 1/ pic.twitter.com/uMVzeS0rp1
— Kjell Lindgren (@astro_kjell) March 23, 2022
The Crew-4 mission will be SpaceX’s fifth crewed spaceflight for NASA, following the Demo-2 test flight and three previous crewed operational missions for the space station. It will also be SpaceX’s sixth crewed spaceflight, including the Inspiration 4 private orbital mission.
If all goes according to schedule, the Freedom spacecraft should be launched into space on April 19 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Editor’s Recommendations
es.digitaltrends.com