Designed to transport NASA astronauts and to be able to join the International Space Station (ISS), the Crew Dragon capsule developed by SpaceX has yet to make its first manned test flight. It could take place next May.
The fact remains that today SpaceX announces with Crew Dragon, a ” historic mission ” who ” will pave the way to make spaceflight possible for everyone who dreams of it. “It is part of an agreement with the space tourism company Space Adventures for private clients aboard the Crew Dragon.
It will not be a convoy to the ISS, but an orbital flight around the Earth for up to four people. After a few weeks of training according to Space Adventures, such a mission would last five days with a launch using the Flacon 9 rocket between the end of 2021 and mid-2022 from Cape Canaveral in Florida in the United States.
The flight could reach two to three times the altitude of the ISS, knowing that the International Space Station orbits between 350 – 400 km.
The marketing of places in Crew Dragon is still not very detailed for the moment. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed … or even an idea of the price of the seat on Crew Dragon. The dream mentioned will obviously be expensive.
Remember that the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa was until now the first SpaceX space tourist, but to travel around the Moon by 2023 and with a Starship rocket.
Between 2001 and 2009, Space Adventures was already responsible for sending space tourists to the International Space Station via a partnership with the Russian space agency and Soyuz rockets. The last of them was the Canadian businessman Guy Laliberté. Known to be the founder of Cirque du Soleil, he had spent $ 35 million.
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