SpaceX Dragon launching NASA Crew-11 According to SpaceX, the Dragon spacecraft that will launch this crew has already arrived at the launch pad hangar, where it will be mounted to the Falcon 9 rocket. It will be SpaceX Dragon Endeavor's sixth flight. NASA recently went through a recertification process with SpaceX to allow the company to go beyond the previously certified five flights per capsule. Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, told media during a July press briefing that NASA is eventually aiming to certify each SpaceX Dragon for up to 15 flights. Endeavor is the same Dragon spacecraft which launched DEMO-2 in 2020. DEMO-2 was the first orbital launch of astronauts from America since the retirement of the space shuttle, and the flight which certified the Dragon to ferry NASA astronauts. "I still remember watching that last shuttle launch, STS-135, sitting in a conference room with a very small Dragon team at the time, and it was my first few days here. And I remember looking at the faces around and thinking 'Today we begin. The world is counting on us to write the next chapter of human spaceflight,'" Sarah Walker, director of SpaceX Dragon missions, said during the July press briefing. Once Crew-11 arrives at the International Space Station, NASA's Crew-10 will prepare to return to Earth. Crew-10 will be the first NASA crew to splashdown in a Dragon on the West Coast. SpaceX moved recovery operations to California earlier this year. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.