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Back To The Future: Astronauts Return To American Launchpad In Sleek New Ride
After nearly a decade of NASA paying Russia to send humans into orbit, astronauts are about to launch from American soil once more, this time in a hypermodern vehicle.

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This is the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, sitting atop its cargo-carrying “trunk.” The spacecraft is scheduled to carry two U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 27.

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The capsule will be mounted to the nose of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, pictured here during a January 2020 launch. For the past nine years, NASA has paid Russia up to $86 million per seat to send its astronauts into space after the 30-year-old U.S. Space Shuttle program was retired in 2011.
![The interior of the Crew Dragon capsule, which can seat up to seven astronauts. In 2008, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said, “Dragon was actually named after [the 1960s song] Puff The Magic Dragon because so many people thought I must be smoking weed to do this venture.” Some believe the song’s lyrics hint at drug use. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/68b70952-c38c-48e1-b5aa-3fd6705a3ffd_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The interior of the Crew Dragon capsule, which can seat up to seven astronauts.
In 2008, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said, “Dragon was actually named after [the 1960s song] Puff The Magic Dragon because so many people thought I must be smoking weed to do this venture.” Some believe the song’s lyrics hint at drug use.
In 2008, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said, “Dragon was actually named after [the 1960s song] Puff The Magic Dragon because so many people thought I must be smoking weed to do this venture.” Some believe the song’s lyrics hint at drug use.

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The Crew Dragon is a major update of SpaceX’s first Dragon capsule (pictured), which has been flying unmanned resupply missions to the ISS since 2012.