Dragon (spacecraft)

Dragon (spacecraft)

Dragon is a partially reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company based in Hawthorne, California. Dragon is launched into space by the SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle.

During its uncrewed maiden flight in December 2010, Dragon became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. On 25 May 2012, an uncrewed variant of Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with and be attached to the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX is contracted to deliver cargo to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program, and Dragon began regular cargo flights in October 2012.

SpaceX is developing a crewed-variant of the Dragon capsule design called DragonRider. DragonRider will be able to carry up to seven astronauts, or some combination of crew and cargo, to and from low Earth orbit. SpaceX has received several government contracts to accelerate development and testing of the crewed variant, including a Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev 2)-funded space act agreement in April 2011, and a Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap)-funded space act agreement in August 2012.

The spacecraft's heat shield is furthermore designed to withstand Earth re-entry velocities from potential Lunar and Martian spaceflights.