SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which has been in orbit twice, is now on display at the renovated Henry Crown Space Center at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
The museum mentioned in a note on social media that the reusable Cargo Dragon capsule made history in 2012 as the first commercial spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). This particular Dragon CRS-12 completed two cargo missions to the ISS in 2017 and 2019.
According to the museum’s website, the Dragon capsule carried not only food supplies, but also scientific experiments. In particular, the Cosmic-Ray Energy and Mass (ISS-CREAM) research, designed to study the composition of cosmic rays.
“This SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is the center of a new exhibit celebrating its part in history and how innovative technology is writing the future of space exploration,” the museum notes.
🚀The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft made history as the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to & from the International Space Station (ISS) & return safely to Earth.
— Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (@msichicago) May 23, 2024
The CRS-12 Dragon spacecraft at the Museum completed two missions for NASA in 2017 & 2019.
(cont.)⬇️ pic.twitter.com/e6SIuFYUvY
Dragon is important because it paves the way for the return of astronaut launches from American land in 2020 after the completion of the Space Shuttle program nine years ago. The reusable Crew Dragon capsule with a similar design has already made 13 crewed flights to low Earth orbit, most of them to the space station.
CRS-12 Cargo Dragon on display was briefly shown at the museum in December 2022. However, it is now a permanent exhibit. It is located next to the Mercury-Aurora 7 spacecraft, which in 1962 delivered NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter into orbit as part of the Mercury project, as well as the Apollo 8 spacecraft, which in 1968 delivered the first astronauts into lunar orbit, a year before the historic Apollo 11 mission of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on landing on the moon.
Earlier, we reported on how SpaceX Cargo Dragon delivered a sweet cargo of fresh fruits to the ISS.
According to digitaltrends.com
