SpaceX Dragon 2
2020s class of partially reusable spacecraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by American space company SpaceX, for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. There are two variants of the Dragon spacecraft: Crew Dragon, capable of ferrying four crewmembers, and Cargo Dragon, a replacement for the original Dragon 1 used to carry freight to and from space. The spacecraft consists of a reusable space capsule and an expendable trunk module. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and the capsule returns to Earth through splashdown. It has proven to be the most cost effective spacecraft in history to be used by NASA.[10]
Manufacturer | SpaceX | ||
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Country of origin | United States | ||
Operator | SpaceX | ||
Applications | ISS crew and cargo transport; private spaceflight | ||
Website | spacex.com/vehicles/dragon | ||
Specifications | |||
Launch mass | 12,500 kg (27,600 lb)[1][lower-alpha 1] | ||
Dry mass | 7,700 kg (16,976 lb)[2] | ||
Payload capacity |
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Crew capacity | 2–4 (normal operations) 7 (emergency evacuation)[5] | ||
Dimensions | |||
Volume |
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Power | 28 V and 120 V DC buses 1.5-2 kW solar array[6] | ||
Batteries | 4 × lithium polymer | ||
Equipment | Crews and pressurized as well as unpressurized logistics | ||
Regime | LEO | ||
Design life | |||
Production | |||
Status | Active | ||
On order | 1 (crew) | ||
Built | 12 (6 crew, 3 cargo, 3 prototypes) | ||
Operational | 8 (4 crew, 3 cargo, 1 prototype) | ||
Retired | 3 (1 crew, 2 prototypes) | ||
Lost | 1 (Crew Dragon) (uncrewed) | ||
Maiden launch |
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Related spacecraft | |||
Derived from | SpaceX Dragon 1 | ||
Thruster details | |||
Propellant mass | 2,562 kg (5,648 lb)[2] | ||
Powered by |
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Maximum thrust |
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Specific impulse | Draco: 300 s (2.9 km/s) | ||
Propellant | N2O4 / CH6N2[9] | ||
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Cargo Dragon supplies cargo to the ISS under a Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract with NASA. The first flight of Dragon 2 in a cargo configuration launched in December 2020. It shares this duty with Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft, and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser spaceplane is expected to join them in 2024.[11] As of July 2023, it is the only reusable orbital cargo spacecraft in operation.
Crew Dragon's primary role is to transport crews to and from the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, succeeding the crew orbital transportation capabilities of the Space Shuttle, which retired from service in 2011. It is joined by Boeing's Starliner in this role. Crew Dragon is also used for commercial flights, some of them to the ISS, and is expected to be used to shuttle people to and from Axiom Space's planned space station.