6:45 p.m. Feb. 28, update:

SpaceX announced the name of the test dummy at a pre-launch briefing Feb. 28. Her name is "Ripley," after Ellen Ripley, the female protagonist in the "Alien" movie franchise.

Original story:

Astronauts on board the International Space Station will welcome an interesting new passenger this weekend when SpaceX attempts to launch its Crew Dragon spacecraft for the first time into space.

An instrumented, SpaceX spacesuit-wearing mannequin — or Anthropomorphic Test Device for those who want to get technical — will hitch a ride on the spaceship designed to send American astronauts to the space station from U.S. soil later this year.

"There's a — should I say dummy, is that the right word?" Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, asked Feb. 22 at a post-flight readiness review briefing at Kennedy Space Center. "We prefer to not call them dummies," NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Kathy Lueders said at the briefing.

Sitting in one of the seven-passenger seats aboard the spaceship, the ATD will help gauge the environmental conditions for humans aboard Dragon — one of the key elements for the mission, Koenigsmann said.

SpaceX is currently targeting to launch its uncrewed Demonstration Mission-1 for NASA's Commercial Crew Program atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 2:48 a.m. Saturday from KSC pad 39A.

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The mission will not only send some cargo to the space station, but will also serve as the precursor for future crewed flights blasting off American ground — an event which has not occurred since the shuttle program ended in 2011.

"There's a puppet, dummy, ATD, whatever it is, in there and it will measure the responses on the human body and measure the environment," Koenigsmann said. "We want to make sure that everything is perfect for the safety of the astronauts." This isn't the first time SpaceX sends a mannequin-style figure on one of its missions however.

Last year, the world witnessed CEO Elon Musk's red Tesla roadster blast off a Falcon Heavy rocket into deep-space orbit with a mannequin named "Starman" in the driver's seat. Unlike Starman that was chosen primarily for decoration, this mannequin — whose name is unknown at this time — will provide crucial information regarding the spacecraft's capability to send astronauts safely into space.

Aside from carrying an artificial passenger on board, the spacecraft will also send some radiation monitors, utilization hardware and various crew supplies to the space station. If everything goes accordingly, this will be the first time SpaceX sends its Crew Dragon — or Dragon 2 — to the ISS. The spacecraft is an updated version of Dragon 1 — or the cargo Dragon spacecraft — which has seen 16 successful resupply missions to the space station since 2012.

Some key differences between Dragon 1 and Dragon 2 include Dragon 2 being able to dock directly to the space station, have side-mounted heat shields, a more robust thruster system and perhaps the biggest difference: enough room for seven astronauts.

"Inside there are seats for astronauts, there's a life support system, there's an interface console so that the astronauts can take over if necessary and perform certain functions within Dragon," Koenigsmann said.

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The unpiloted capsule is scheduled to dock at the space station on Sunday and return for a splashdown landing in the Atlantic Ocean five days later. Before any crewed missions commence, NASA first has to review performance and flight data for certification ahead of crewed flights.

If SpaceX passes all tests, the Space Coast could see two NASA astronauts blast off to space as early as July.

"Human spaceflight is basically the core mission of SpaceX, so we are really excited to do this," Koenigsmann said. "There's nothing more important to us than this endeavor."

Jaramillo is space trends reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Jaramillo at 321-242-3668

or antoniaj@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @AntoniaJ_11

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