SpaceX Dragon 2
SpaceX Dragon 2 is a class of reusable spacecraft created by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX as the replacement to the Dragon 1 cargo spacecraft.
The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and returns to Earth via an ocean splashdown. The spacecraft can dock itself to the International Space Station (ISS) instead of being berthed.
It has two versions; Crew Dragon, a human-rated capsule capable of carrying up to seven astronauts, and Cargo Dragon, an updated replacement for the original Dragon spacecraft.[1]
Crew Dragon is equipped with an integrated launch escape system in a set of four side thruster pods with two SuperDraco engines each. The spacecraft features redesigned solar arrays.
SpaceX plans to replace Dragon 2 with Starship.
List of flights
changeLaunch dates are listed in UTC.
Crew Dragon flights
changeMission | Space capsule[2] | Launch date | Landing date | Description | Crew | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Test flights | |||||||
Pad Abort Test | DragonFly (prototype) | 6 May 2015 | 6 May 2015 | The test showed that the space capsule can escape quickly (from the rocket) if the rocket has a problem while it is still on the ground. The test was at Cape Canaveral, Florida.[3] | No crew | Success | |
Demo-1 | C204 | 2 March 2019[4] | 8 March 2019 | Test flight of the capsule - without people in the capsule. | No crew | Success | |
In-Flight Abort Test | C205 | 19 January 2020[5] | 19 January 2020 | [6] | No crew | Success | |
Demo-2 | Endeavour | 30 May 2020[7][8] | 2 August 2020 | Success | |||
Later flights
change- From 16 November 2020 to 2 May 2021, the Crew-1 mission happened.[9][10] The successful mission used the space capsule Resilience and the crew was
- 16 September 2021 to 18 September 2021: Inspiration4 mission used space capsule Resilience.[17] The flight was a success. The crew was