— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2019 The dummy will remain within the Crew Dragon capsule and contains a body full of sensors that will enable SpaceX to get a better feel for what's happening inside the capsule. She gets her name from the famous badass space warrant officer made famous in the Alien franchise, Ellen Ripley. "Actually having a reentry, with Ripley in the seat, in the position, is critical," said Kathy Lueders, manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, during a pre-flight media conference. The capsule, which is carrying around 400 pounds of cargo and supplies, will remain docked at the ISS for five days before returning to Earth to land in the Atlantic Ocean on March 8 -- provided everything goes well today. NASA has referred to initial uncrewed test flights as "dress rehearsals for missions with astronauts aboard the vehicles." If Demo-1 goes well, NASA and SpaceX will lock it in for another safety test -- the "in-flight abort test." That will ensure the systems used in an emergency situation, where the capsule might need to be jettisoned away from the rocket, are all in working order. Once NASA and SpaceX are happy, then it's time for the real deal: sending astronauts up on a Crew Dragon scheduled to launch in mid-2019. Elon Musk Shows Off the Shiny SpaceX Starship +38 More