SpaceX Dragon C108 is a Cargo Dragon space capsule built by

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

. It is the first Dragon capsule to be flown three times, having its third launch in 2019. C108 was first used on

CRS-6 SpaceX CRS-6, also known as SpX-6, was a Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA. It was the eighth flight for SpaceX's uncrewed SpaceX Dragon, Dragon Comparison ...

, and then used again for the

CRS-13 SpaceX CRS-13, also known as SpX-13, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station launched on 15 December 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA and is flown by SpaceX. It was the second mission to successfull ...

and CRS-18 missions. It was the first capsule to be used a third flight, marking a milestone in SpaceX's drive to reduce space launch costs through reusing hardware.

History

C108 was built as the eighth production Dragon capsule. This new Dragon was launched on the

mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS). It splashed down on May 21, 2015 and was successfully retrieved. To prepare for its second flight, it had its heatshield replaced while the hull,

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

, and Draco thrusters were refurbished. The refurbished Dragon was relaunched in December 15, 2017 for the

mission. Following an almost month-long stay, C108 landed on January 13, 2018. After undergoing another refurbishment, C108 was launched again in July 2019 for the CRS-18 mission. It landed for the final time on August 27, 2019 and was retired.

Flights

References

External links

* Individual space vehicles SpaceX Dragon {{Rocket-stub