The new SpaceX Crew Dragon shuttle has been called 'Endurance', the third human transport capsule to enter service and which will be launched on October 30 to reach the International Space Station (ISS).
On board this first flight there will be 4 astronauts including the German Matthias Maurer, of the European Space Agency (ESA).
"We can stop calling it capsule 210 - explained in a video Raja Chari, the NASA astronaut who will be in charge of the mission - the crew has decided on the name of the vehicle, it will be Endurance".
The new name replaces the initial code and continues the SpaceX tradition of assigning the name of the new shuttles to the first crew that will go into orbit.
The name Endurance was assigned taking inspiration from the historic ship used by the explorer Ernest Shackleton in the most famous of his exploits, the failed attempt to cross Antarctica.
“First of all it is a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit in the goal of pushing humans and machines further than we have ever done,” added Chari.
Even if the fate of the historic Endurance was certainly not lucky, destroyed by the ice even before reaching Antarctica, the name of the new shuttle wants to underline the courage and determination of those adventurers, who have all returned safe and sound, and the many adversities. also faced in recent months due to Covid.
All Crew Dragon shuttles are designed to complete at least 5 long-term space missions and the previous 2 had been renamed by their respective first crews with Endeavor and Resilience.
The first Endurance mission will kick off October 30 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center launch base in Florida powered by a Falcon 9 rocket and will last about six months.
Among the 4 on board there will also be Tom Marshburn, on his third flight, after having gone into orbit with a Soyuz and a Shuttle, and the debut of the European Maurer.
