The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is welcoming a flown SpaceX Cargo Dragon to its collection this week, and everyone’s invited to celebrate the arrival. Retired SpaceX Dragon 1, serial number C113, will go on display in the Henry Crown Space Center at MSI in 2023, making this the only opportunity to see the spacecraft before the opening, according to the museum.
A welcome ceremony will take place on the north portico patio, outside the museum, on Thursday, December 1st, at noon. Admission to the museum is free for the day, and the event is open to the public. Special guests will attend, and there will be space-themed activities for museum guests.
According to the Museum of Science and Industry, the Cargo Dragon will be on permanent exhibit in the Henry Crown Space Center by spring 2023. The museum already has two flown spacecraft on display, the Apollo 8 command module and the Aurora 7 spacecraft, in addition to other mission equipment like an Apollo landing trainer, an Apollo mission control console, and Frank Borman’s flown spacesuit. But this is only the second SpaceX Dragon to go on permanent public display, the other being at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center.
C113 was used on two ISS commercial resupply missions, launching as part of CRS-12 in August 2017 and CRS-17 in May 2019. Fourteen Dragon 1 series spacecrafts were produced, with C113 being the final Dragon. In 2020, the last Dragon 1 series spacecraft flew, and SpaceX replaced it with Dragon 2. SpaceX would go on to produce two versions of Dragon 2; cargo Dragon and crew Dragon, the latter which is able to ferry astronauts to the ISS and back.
The arrival of historic spacecraft is uncommon and a special event, so if you happen to be in town, it is worth stopping by for a sneak peek before the museum begins working on a new exhibit space. Event details can be viewed on the Museum’s Facebook event page and tickets reserved online.
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