Capability: ISS Logistics
Maiden Flight: 2010-12-08
Flight Life: One week free flight, up to two years while docked to the International Space Station.
Payload Capacity: 4200
First launch of Dragon using trunk section to carry cargo. Launch was successful, but anomalies occurred with the spacecraft’s thrusters shortly after liftoff. Thruster function was later restored and orbit corrections were made, but the spacecraft’s rendezvous with the ISS was delayed from its planned date of 2 March until 3 March, when it was successfully berthed with the Harmony module. Dragon splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on 26 March.
History
Dragon is a 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, and SpaceX is developing a crewed version called the Dragon V2.
SpaceX is additionally developing a crewed variant of the Dragon called Dragon V2. Dragon V2 will be able to carry up to seven astronauts, or some combination of crew and cargo, to and from low Earth orbit. The V2 heat shield is designed to withstand Earth re-entry velocities from Lunar and Martian spaceflights.
Agency
SpaceX
Type: Commercial
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
