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107-477: 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. The spacecraft, which consists of a reusable space capsule and an expendable trunk module , has two variants: the 4-person Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon , a replacement for

214-549: A Crew Dragon in 2022. In October 2021, Space Adventures stated that the contract had expired and would not be executed, but left open the possibility of a partnership with SpaceX in the future. SpaceX planned a series of four flight tests for the Crew Dragon: a pad abort test, an uncrewed orbital flight to the ISS, an in-flight abort test, and finally, a crewed flight to the ISS, which was initially planned for July 2019, but after

321-463: A Dragon capsule explosion, was delayed to May 2020. The pad abort test was conducted successfully on 6 May 2015 at SpaceX's leased SLC-40 launch site. Dragon landed safely in the ocean to the east of the launchpad 99 seconds after ignition of the SuperDraco engines. While a flight-like Dragon 2 and trunk were used for the pad abort test, they rested atop a truss structure for the test rather than

428-727: A Starliner capsule will return on land with airbags at one of four designated sites in the western United States. Development of the Commercial Crew Program began in 2011 as NASA shifted from internal development of crewed vehicles to perform ISS crew rotation to commercial industry development of transport to the ISS. A series of open competitions over the following two years saw successful bids from Boeing, Blue Origin , Sierra Nevada , and SpaceX to develop proposals for ISS crew transport vehicles. In 2014, NASA awarded separate fixed-price contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to develop their respective systems and to fly astronauts to

535-436: A capsule can be reused up to fifteen times. Crew Dragon spacecraft can spend up to a week in free flight without being docked to the ISS. Each Crew Dragon capsule is equipped with a launch escape system consisting of eight of SpaceX's SuperDraco engines, which provide 71,000 newtons (16,000 pounds-force) of thrust each. These engines were originally intended to also perform a propulsive landing upon return to Earth, with

642-482: A contingency if Starliner is further delayed and to ensure service to the ISS until 2030. SpaceX's Crew-1 mission, the first operational flight in the program, carried Victor Glover , Mike Hopkins , Soichi Noguchi , and Shannon Walker to the ISS in November 2020 aboard Resilience . Resilience was originally planned to be used for Crew-2 , but was reassigned following a scheduling change resulting from

749-642: A custom-fitted space suit that provides cooling inside inside the Dragon (IVA type suit) but can also protect its wearer in a rapid cabin depressurization . For the Demo-1 mission, a test dummy was fitted with the spacesuit and sensors. The spacesuit is made from Nomex , a fire-retardant fabric similar to Kevlar . The spacecraft's design was unveiled on 29 May 2014, during a press event at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California . In October 2014, NASA selected

856-417: A deorbit burn and orient themselves for atmospheric entry . The Boeing Starliner and Orion discard their service modules, including their maneuvering engines. The SpaceX Dragon discards its trunk, which includes its solar panels and radiators, but retains its Draco engines in the capsule. The Space Shuttle was notable for recovering the entire spacecraft. In general, around 15% of the landed weight of

963-428: A departure from the prior NASA practice, where construction contracts with commercial firms led to direct NASA operation of the spacecraft, NASA is purchasing space transport services from SpaceX, including construction, launch, and operation of the Dragon 2. In August 2018, NASA and SpaceX agreed on the loading procedures for propellants , vehicle fluids and crew. High-pressure helium will be loaded first, followed by

1070-420: A full Falcon 9 rocket. A crash test dummy embedded with a suite of sensors was placed inside the test vehicle to record acceleration loads and forces at the crew seat, while the remaining six seats were loaded with weights to simulate full-passenger-load weight. The test objective was to demonstrate sufficient total impulse , thrust and controllability to conduct a safe pad abort. A fuel mixture ratio issue

1177-480: A limit to how many times a spacecraft can be refurbished before it has to be retired. Commercial Crew Program The Commercial Crew Program ( CCP ) provides commercially operated crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA , conducting crew rotations between the expeditions of the International Space Station program . American space manufacturer SpaceX began providing service in 2020, using

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1284-555: A long enough runway, a necessary consideration for the Space Shuttle launch abort modes . The first recoverable space capsules landed under parachute, either on land or by splashing down in a body of water. Ground landings require additional cushioning, which Starliner accomplishes with deployable airbags. This was considered for Orion as well, but was ruled out due to the extra mass required. The sub-orbital New Shepard uses retro-rockets to slow down just before touchdown,

1391-524: A new expendable trunk for each flight. SpaceX's CCtCap contract values each seat on a Crew Dragon flight to be around US$ 88 million, while the face value of each seat has been estimated by NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) to be around US$ 55 million. This contrasts with the 2014 Soyuz launch price of US$ 76 million per seat for NASA astronauts. Dragon 2 was intended from the earliest design concept to carry crew, or with fewer seats, both crew and cargo. The cargo version, dubbed Cargo Dragon , became

1498-583: A part of the Soyuz-Dragon crew swap system, that is, keeping at least one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut on each of the crew rotation missions. That would ensure both countries would have a presence on the station, and ability to maintain their separate systems, if either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are grounded for an extended period. On 3 December 2021, NASA made clear it would secure up to an additional three flights from SpaceX to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. capability for human access to

1605-521: A reality after 2014, when NASA sought bids on a second round of multi-year contracts to bring cargo to the ISS in 2020 through 2024. In January 2016, SpaceX won contracts for six of these flights, dubbed CRS-2 . As of April 2024, Cargo Dragon has completed nine missions to and from the ISS with six more planned. Cargo Dragons lack several features of the crewed variant, including seats, cockpit controls, astronaut life support systems, and SuperDraco abort engines. Cargo Dragon improves on many aspects of

1712-483: A remote area of the southern Pacific Ocean. The vehicle will attach to the ISS using one of the Cargo Dragon vehicles, which will be paired with a longer trunk module equipped with 46 Draco thrusters (instead of the normal 16) and will carry 30,000 kg (66,000 lb) of propellant, nearly six times the normal load. NASA plans to launch the deorbit vehicle in 2030 where it will remain attached, dormant, for about

1819-404: A small amount of dinitrogen tetroxide leaked into a helium line used to pressurize the propellant tanks. The leakage apparently occurred during pre-test processing. As a result, the pressurization of the system 100 ms before firing damaged a check valve and resulted in the explosion. SpaceX modified the Dragon 2 replacing check valves with burst discs , which are designed for single use, and

1926-485: A sub-orbital flight in 1965 and another sub-orbital flight in 1966. The first spacecraft to be reused in orbit was the Soviet VA spacecraft , a capsule that was part of the larger TKS spacecraft . A VA capsule that launched in 1977 was reflown in 1978. The Space Shuttle was the first orbital spacecraft designed for reuse according to NASA , and first launched in 1981. Five orbiters would launch 135 times before

2033-480: A technique that has been used by the expendable Soyuz since the 1960s. Splashing down allows the water to cushion the spacecraft, but exposure to salt water can have adverse effects on the vehicle. Despite this, SpaceX began regularly reusing Dragon capsules after splashdown. Dragon 2 was originally designed to propusively land using its SuperDraco engines; however, propulsive landings for Dragon were canceled and Dragon 2 also uses parachutes to splashdown in

2140-405: A vehicle is heat shielding. Thermal protection systems (TPS) can be made of a variety of materials, including reinforced carbon-carbon and ablative materials . Historically, these materials were first developed on ICBM MIRVs . However, the requirements of reusable space systems differ from those of single use reentry vehicles, especially with regards to heat shield requirements. In particular

2247-480: A year as the station's orbit naturally decays to 220 km (140 mi). The spacecraft is to then conduct one or more orientation burns to lower the perigee to 150 km (93 mi), followed by a final deorbiting burn. In June 2024, NASA awarded a contract worth up to $ 843 million to SpaceX to build the deorbit vehicle as it works to secure funding. SpaceX, which aims to dramatically lower space transportation costs, designed Dragon 2 to be reused, not discarded as

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2354-522: Is a variant of the company's Dragon 2 class of spacecraft, which is an upgraded version of the first-generation Dragon. It measures 3.7 meters (12 feet) wide, 4.4 meters (14 feet) tall without its trunk, and 7.2 meters (24 feet) with its trunk. While trunks are discarded prior to capsule reentry, crew cabins are designed to be reusable. After earlier plans of SpaceX to use new capsules for every crewed flight for NASA both agreed to reuse Crew Dragon capsules for NASA flights. In 2022, SpaceX stated that

2461-504: Is also equipped to perform a splashdown return. Boeing's CCtCap contract values each seat on a CST-100 flight to be between US$ 91–99 million, while the face value of each seat has been estimated by NASA's OIG to be around US$ 90 million. NASA missions to the ISS launch on an average every six months. As part of the original contracts Boeing and SpaceX each were initially contracted for up to six operational flights. NASA later contracted with SpaceX for up to an additional eight flights as

2568-613: Is also used for commercial flights to ISS and other destinations, and is expected to be used to transport people to and from Axiom Space 's planned space station . Cargo Dragon brings cargo to the ISS under a Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract with NASA , a duty it shares with Northrop Grumman 's Cygnus spacecraft. As of November 2024, it is the only reusable orbital cargo spacecraft in operation, though it may eventually be joined by Sierra Nevada Corporation 's under-development Dream Chaser spaceplane. There are two variants of Dragon 2: Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon. Crew Dragon

2675-446: Is typical of spacecraft. It is composed of a reusable capsule and a disposable trunk. SpaceX and NASA initially certified the capsule to be used for five missions. As of March 2024, they are working to certify it for up to fifteen missions. To maximize cost-effectiveness, SpaceX incorporated several innovative design choices. The Crew Dragon employs eight side-mounted SuperDraco engines for its emergency escape system, eliminating

2782-635: The Columbia disaster . Making a resistant yet lightweight and effective heat tile poses a challenge. The LI-900 material was used on the Space Shuttle. Runway landings from orbit became prevelant with the introduction of the Space Shuttle . Spaceplanes that land horizontally on a runway require lifting surfaces and landing gear. Designs include the Space Shuttle's delta wing and the Dream Chaser's lifting body . Spaceplanes require access to

2889-746: The Aldridge Commission – established by President George W. Bush following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster – called for crewed flights to the Moon with a Crew Exploration Vehicle in its final report. Following the NASA Authorization Act of 2005 , the Constellation program was established, which envisioned a revised Crew Exploration Vehicle named Orion conducting crew rotation flights to

2996-632: The Boeing Pad Abort Test in November 2019. NASA accepted the test as successful even though one of three parachutes failed to deploy, since the system landed as designed under two parachutes. Boeing conducted the Orbital Flight Test in December 2019 and encountered major malfunctions of Starliner's software which precluded an intended docking with the ISS and prompted a truncation of the mission. The Orbital Flight Test

3103-468: The CST-100 Starliner . SpaceX had previously been contracted by NASA to operate ISS resupply flights with their Dragon spacecraft, as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services . The program's third round, Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap), aimed to financially support the development of winning proposals over 21 months through to May 2014, in preparation for crewed missions to

3210-507: The Crew Dragon spacecraft, and NASA plans to add Boeing when its Boeing Starliner spacecraft becomes operational no earlier than 2025. NASA has contracted for six operational missions from Boeing and fourteen from SpaceX, ensuring sufficient support for ISS through 2030. The spacecraft are owned and operated by the vendor, and crew transportation is provided to NASA as a commercial service. Each mission sends up to four astronauts to

3317-469: The Dragon 1 cargo capsule. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, and the capsule returns to Earth through splashdown . Crew Dragon's primary role is to transport crews to and from the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program , a task handled by the Space Shuttle until it was retired in 2011. It will be joined by Boeing's Starliner in this role when NASA certifies it. Crew Dragon

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3424-577: The International Docking System Standard (IDSS). The NASA Docking System implementation is used by Starliner and ISS, while Crew Dragon uses a compatible IDSS implementation developed by SpaceX. The IDSS docks are used instead of the Common Berthing Mechanism used by previous Commercial Orbital Transportation Services spacecraft such as the first-generation Dragon . SpaceX's Crew Dragon

3531-634: The International Space Station (ISS) in addition to its lunar exploration goals. Orion superseded the Orbital Space Plane , which was specifically designed for ISS crew rotation. In 2009, the Augustine Commission appointed by President Barack Obama found that the program's funding and resources were insufficient to execute its goals without significant delays to its schedule and an increase of US$ 3 billion in funding, which prompted NASA to start considering alternatives to

3638-493: The Merlin engine. Earlier, this test had been scheduled before the uncrewed orbital test, however, SpaceX and NASA considered it safer to use a flight representative capsule rather than the test article from the pad abort test. This test was previously planned to use the capsule C204 from Demo-1, however, C204 was destroyed in an explosion during a static fire testing on 20 April 2019. Capsule C205 , originally planned for Demo-2

3745-782: The Space Shuttle and the Boeing X-37B , and space capsules such as the SpaceX Dragon . The Blue Origin New Shepard is an example of a sub-orbital spacecraft. On July 17, 1962, the North American X-15 , a rocket plane , reached an altitude of 95.9km on a sub-orbital flight, marking the first spaceflight with a reusable vehicle according to United States definition. In 1963, the X-15 completed two flights above 100km. The Gemini SC-2 capsule followed, making

3852-467: The original Dragon design, including the recovery and refurbishment process. Since 2021, Cargo Dragon has been able to provide power to some payloads, saving space in the ISS and eliminating the time needed to move the payloads and set them up inside. This feature, announced on 29 August 2021 during the CRS-23 launch, is called Extend-the-Lab. "For CRS-23 there are 3 Extend-the-Lab payloads launching with

3959-483: The Crew Dragon, above the two center seats (occupied by the commander and pilot), there is a three-screen control panel. Below the seats is the cargo pallet, where around 230 kilograms (500 lb) of items can be stowed. The capsule’s ceiling includes a small space toilet (with privacy curtain), and an International Docking System Standard (IDSS) port. For private spaceflight missions not requiring ISS docking,

4066-671: The Crew Dragon. The spacecraft can be operated in full vacuum , and "the crew will wear SpaceX-designed space suits to protect them from a rapid cabin depressurization emergency event". The spacecraft has also been designed to be able to land safely with a leak "of up to an equivalent orifice of 6.35 mm [0.25 in] in diameter". The spacecraft's nose cone protects the docking port and four forward-facing thrusters during ascent and reentry. This component pivots open for in-space operations. Dragon 2's propellant and helium pressurant for emergency abort and orbital maneuvers are stored in composite-carbon-overwrap titanium spherical tanks at

4173-645: The Crew-8 mission. Problems with the Boeing spacecraft caused NASA to extend its mission and ultimately to bring the spacecraft back to Earth without crew. The Crew-8 mission was extended and its Dragon was fitted with two additional makeshift crew seats to allow it to serve as a "lifeboat" for the CFT crew if evacuation had been needed before Crew-9 arrived. The Crew-9 launch was delayed and Crew-9 modified to launch with only two crew and two empty seats. When Crew-9 arrived at ISS,

4280-455: The Dragon 2 spacecraft was described by astronaut Bob Behnken as "smooth off the pad" but "we were definitely driving and riding a dragon all the way up ... a little bit less g's [than the Space Shuttle ] but more 'alive' is probably the best way I would describe it". Regarding descent in the spacecraft, Behnken stated, "Once we descended a little bit into the atmosphere, Dragon really came alive. It started to fire thrusters and keep us pointed in

4387-595: The Dragon spacecraft as one of the candidates to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station, under the Commercial Crew Program . In March 2022, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters that "We are finishing our final (capsule), but we still are manufacturing components, because we'll be refurbishing". SpaceX later decided to build a fifth Crew Dragon capsule, to be available by 2024. SpaceX also manufactures

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4494-522: The Falcon 9 after an intentional premature engine cutoff, after which the Falcon was destroyed by aerodynamic forces. The Dragon followed its suborbital trajectory to apogee, at which point the spacecraft's trunk was jettisoned. The smaller Draco engines were then used to orient the vehicle for the descent. All major functions were executed, including separation, engine firings, parachute deployment, and landing. Dragon 2 splashed down at 15:38:54 UTC just off

4601-541: The Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The test objective was to demonstrate the ability to safely move away from the ascending rocket under the most challenging atmospheric conditions of the flight trajectory, imposing the worst structural stress of a real flight on the rocket and spacecraft. The abort test was performed using a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket with a fully fueled second stage with a mass simulator replacing

4708-515: The IDSS port can be replaced with a 1.2-meter (3 ft 11 in) domed plexiglass window offering panoramic views, similar to the ISS Cupola . Additionally, SpaceX has developed a "Skywalker" hatch for missions involving extravehicular activities . The Cargo Dragon is also loaded from the side hatch and has an IDSS port on the ceiling. However, it lacks the control panels, windows, and seats of

4815-409: The ISS as planned until 2 May 2021. SpaceX Crew-2 launched on 23 April 2021 and it landed on 9 November 2021, two days before the launch of SpaceX Crew-3 . When Boeing OFT-2 was on the pad preparing for launch on 3 August 2021, problems were encountered with 13 valves in the capsule's propulsion system. The launch was scrubbed, and the capsule eventually returned to the factory. Analysis of the problem

4922-527: The ISS for a nominal period of 180 days, but is designed to remain on the station for up to 210 days, matching the Russian Soyuz spacecraft . Crew Dragon includes an integrated pusher launch escape system whose eight SuperDraco engines can pull the capsule away from the launch vehicle in an emergency. SpaceX originally intended to use the SuperDraco engines to land Crew Dragon on land; parachutes and an ocean splashdown were envisioned for use only in

5029-717: The ISS within five years. Despite winning awards in CCDev 1 and CCDev 2, Blue Origin decided against competing in CCiCap, opting instead to rely on private investment from their owner, Jeff Bezos , to continue development on crewed spaceflight. The competition for CCiCap funding ended in August 2012, with US$ 212.5 million allocated to Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser, US$ 440 million allocated to SpaceX's Crew Dragon, and US$ 460 million allocated to Boeing's Starliner. While Alliant Techsystems 's integrated Liberty launch vehicle and spacecraft

5136-549: The ISS, and Crew-4 launched Kjell Lindgren , Bob Hines , Samantha Cristoforetti and Jessica Watkins in April 2022. US astronauts Josh Cassada , Nicole Aunapu Mann and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata initially assigned to Starliner crewed flights were reassigned to Crew-5 mission after delays in the Starliner program. The fourth astronaut on Crew-5 is filled by a Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina and thus becoming to be

5243-553: The ISS. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 allocated US$ 1.3 billion for an expansion of the existing Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program over three years. While the program's first round of competition in 2010 focused on funding development of various human spaceflight technologies in the private sector as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , its second round, CCDev 2, focused on proposals for spacecraft capable of shuttling astronauts to and from

5350-412: The ISS. A Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched to space atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle and the capsule returns to Earth via splashdown in the ocean near Florida. The program's first operational mission, SpaceX Crew-1 , launched on 16 November 2020. Boeing Starliner spacecraft will participate after its final test flight , launched atop an Atlas V N22 launch vehicle. Instead of a splashdown,

5457-520: The ISS. The competition for CCDev 2 funding concluded in April 2011, with Blue Origin receiving US$ 22 million to develop its biconic nose cone capsule concept, SpaceX receiving US$ 75 million to develop a crewed version of their Dragon spacecraft and a human-rated Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the Sierra Nevada Corporation receiving US$ 80 million to develop the Dream Chaser , and Boeing receiving US$ 92.3 million to develop

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5564-543: The ISS. Each contract required four successful demonstrations to achieve human rating for the system: pad abort, uncrewed orbital test, launch abort, and crewed orbital test. Operational missions were initially planned to begin in 2017, with missions alternating between the two providers. Delays required NASA to purchase additional seats on Soyuz spacecraft up to Soyuz MS-17 until Crew Dragon missions commenced in 2020. Crew Dragon continues to handle all missions until Starliner becomes operational no earlier than 2025. In 2004,

5671-453: The ISS. Operational flights occur approximately once every six months for missions that last for approximately six months. A spacecraft remains docked to the ISS during its mission, and missions usually overlap by at least a few days. Between the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011 and the first operational CCP mission in 2020, NASA relied on the Soyuz program to transport its astronauts to

5778-605: The ISS. SpaceX was to receive up to US$ 2.6 billion under this contract to provide development test flights and up to six operational flights. Dragon was the less expensive proposal, but NASA's William H. Gerstenmaier considered the Boeing Starliner proposal the stronger of the two. However, Crew Dragon's first operational flight, SpaceX Crew-1 , was on 16 November 2020 after several test flights, while Starliner suffered multiple problems and delays, with its first operational flight slipping to no earlier than early 2025. In

5885-557: The Space Shuttle program in which the US Orbital Segment of the ISS was completely staffed with four crew. Crew-2 launched in April 2021, using a previously-flown Falcon 9 first-stage booster and a refurbished Crew Dragon for the first time. The mission carried Shane Kimbrough , Megan McArthur , Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet aboard Endeavour . Crew-3 launched in November 2021, carrying Thomas Marshburn , Raja Chari , Matthias Maurer and Kayla Barron to

5992-413: The accidental destruction of C204 during testing. While NASA astronauts were given assignments to either Crew Dragon or Starliner flights, Noguchi – a JAXA astronaut – was open for assignment to whichever spacecraft would launch the first operational mission. With Chris Cassidy having arrived at the ISS during Soyuz MS-16 , the arrival of the astronauts aboard Resilience marked the first time since

6099-438: The adding of flaps to each SuperDraco to seal the thrusters prior to splashdown, preventing water intrusion. The SuperDraco engine test was repeated on 13 November 2019 with Crew Dragon  C205 . The test was successful, showing that the modifications made to the vehicle were successful. Since the destroyed capsule had been slated for use in the upcoming in-flight abort test, the explosion and investigation delayed that test and

6206-479: The approach and automated docking procedures with the ISS, remained docked until 8 March 2019, then conducted the full re-entry, splashdown and recovery steps to qualify for a crewed mission. Life-support systems were monitored for the entirety the test flight. The same capsule was planned to be re-used in June 2019 for an in-flight abort test before it exploded on 20 April 2019. On 20 April 2019, Crew Dragon  C204 ,

6313-449: The appropriate direction. The atmosphere starts to make noise—you can hear that rumble outside the vehicle. And as the vehicle tries to control, you feel a little bit of that shimmy in your body. ... We could feel those small rolls and pitches and yaws—all those little motions were things we picked up on inside the vehicle. ... All the separation events, from the trunk separation through the parachute firings, were very much like getting hit in

6420-399: The astronauts chosen to pilot the Crew Dragon and Starliner vehicles in August 2018, and two months later penned the launch of demonstration missions for the Crew Dragon and Starliner for dates in 2019. The uncrewed SpaceX Demo-1 mission was launched on 2 March 2019, in which a Crew Dragon successfully docked with the ISS and returned to Earth six days after launch. The capsule used in

6527-545: The back of the chair with a baseball bat ... pretty light for the trunk separation but with the parachutes it was a pretty significant jolt". List includes only completed or currently manifested missions. Dates are listed in UTC , and for future events, they are the earliest possible opportunities (also known as NET dates) and may change. Reusable spacecraft Reusable spacecraft may be crewed or uncrewed and orbital or sub-orbital . Examples include spaceplanes such as

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6634-429: The capsule during reentry. Dragon 2 uses a total of six parachutes (two drogues and four mains) to decelerate after atmospheric entry and before splashdown, compared to the five used by Dragon 1. The additional parachute was required by NASA as a safety measure after a Dragon 1 suffered a parachute malfunction. The company also went through two rounds of parachute development before being certified to fly with crew. In 2024,

6741-539: The capsule used in the Demo-1 mission, was destroyed in an explosion during static fire testing at the Landing Zone 1 facility. On the day of the explosion, the initial testing of the Crew Dragon's Draco thrusters was successful, with the anomaly occurring during the test of the SuperDraco abort system. Telemetry, high-speed camera footage, and analysis of recovered debris indicate the problem occurred when

6848-411: The capsule's base in an area known as the service section. For launch aborts, the capsule relies on eight SuperDraco engines arranged in four redundant pairs. Each engine generates 71 kN (16,000 lb f ) of thrust. Sixteen smaller Draco thrusters placed around the spacecraft control its attitude and perform orbital maneuvers. When the capsule returns to Earth, a PICA-3 heat shield safeguards

6955-439: The case of an aborted launch. Precision water landing under parachutes was proposed to NASA as "the baseline return and recovery approach for the first few flights" of Crew Dragon. However, propulsive landing was later cancelled, leaving ocean splashdown under parachutes as the only option. In 2012, SpaceX was in talks with Orbital Outfitters about developing space suits to wear during launch and re-entry. Each crew member wears

7062-663: The crew for the DM-2 mission. The crew of two consisted of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley . Behnken previously flew as mission specialist on the STS-123 and the STS-130 missions. Hurley previously flew as a pilot on the STS-127 mission and on the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135 . The first orbital test of Crew Dragon was an uncrewed mission, commonly called "Demo-1" and launched on 2 March 2019. The spacecraft tested

7169-462: The crew of CFT became members of the Crew-9 crew and will return on Crew-9 at the end of its mission. As of October 2024 , the first operational flight has not been scheduled. It depends on successful completion of a Crewed Flight Test . NASA hopes to extend the seat-swapping arrangement with Roscosmos to include Starliner flights after Starliner has enough flights, which will be no earlier than

7276-625: The event that operational missions in the program are further delayed, with the purchase of additional Soyuz seats beyond MS-17 being described as a possibility. The SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test was successfully conducted in January 2020, setting the stage for the final, crewed test flight of Crew Dragon – SpaceX Demo-2 – which launched astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS in May 2020. SpaceX launched its first operational flight, SpaceX Crew-1 , on 16 November 2020. It stayed docked to

7383-531: The final phase of the CCDev program, where NASA would certify an operator to run crewed flights to the ISS through an open competition. The window for proposal submissions was closed on 22 January 2014. Sierra Nevada announced a week later that a privately funded orbital test flight of a Dream Chaser spacecraft, using an Atlas V launch vehicle intended to be purchased by Sierra Nevada, was planned to occur on 1 November 2016. On 16 September 2014, CCtCap concluded with SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner being

7490-419: The first commercial vehicle to attach to the International Space Station (ISS), after which it conducted regular cargo resupply flights for NASA. Its first reuse was in 2017, and the vehicle led to the development of the Dragon 2 , which first reached orbit in 2019. Dragon 2 carries both cargo and crew, and has been described as the most cost-effective spacecraft ever used by NASA. In 2021, Dragon 2 conducted

7597-443: The first contract extension (missions 7, 8, and 9) is $ 258.7 million ($ 64.6 million/seat), and per-mission cost for the second contract extension (missions 10 through 14) is $ 288 million ($ 72 million/seat). Boeing's CST-100 Starliner – "CST" an acronym for "Crew Space Transportation" – measures 4.6 meters (15 feet) in diameter and 5.1 meters (17 feet) in height. The crew module of Starliner can be reused for up to ten flights, while

7704-497: The first crewed flight launched on 30 May 2020 with the launch of the Demo-2 mission. In June 2019, Bigelow Aerospace announced it had reserved with SpaceX up to four missions of four passengers each to the ISS as early as 2020 and planned to sell them for around US$ 52 million per seat. These plans were cancelled by September 2019. Space Adventures contracted SpaceX for a five-day high elliptic orbit space tourism mission with

7811-443: The first orbital flight with only private astronauts onboard. SpaceShipOne , another rocket plane, completed the first private sub-orbital spaceflight in 2004 and led to the development of SpaceShipTwo . The Blue Origin New Shepard capsule conducts commercial sub-orbital spaceflights, as did SpaceShipTwo. Development flights for SpaceX Starship test vehicles began in 2019. Starship's first integrated launch with its booster

7918-617: The first test vehicle having been equipped for such capabilities, but these plans were ultimately abandoned in favor of a traditional splashdown return near Florida in either the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico . SpaceX's CCtCap contract values each seat on a Crew Dragon flight to be between US$ 60–67 million on the first six missions, while the face value of each seat has been estimated by NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) to be around US$ 55 million. Per-mission cost for

8025-651: The loss of AMOS-6 in an accidental launch pad explosion of a Falcon 9 , the Crew Dragon's launch vehicle. With no further flights in the Soyuz program for American astronauts past 2018, the GAO expressed concerns and recommended in February 2017 that NASA develop a plan for crew rotation in the event of further delays. Following the settlement of a lawsuit against Russian space manufacturer Energia over Sea Launch , Boeing received options for up to five seats on Soyuz flights, which NASA purchased from Boeing. NASA announced

8132-419: The mission, and once docked, a 4th which is currently already on the space station will be added to Dragon". For the first time, Dragon Cargo Dragon  C208 performed test reboost of the ISS via its aft-facing Draco thrusters on 8 November 2024 at 17:50 UTC. The US Deorbit Vehicle is a planned Cargo Dragon variant that will be used to deorbit the ISS and direct any remnants into the " spacecraft cemetery ",

8239-434: The mission, however, was accidentally destroyed in a static fire test of its SuperDraco engines in April 2019, causing further delays to launch of future Crew Dragon flights. The Boeing Orbital Flight Test and Boeing Crew Flight Test , which had both been delayed due to a failed test of Starliner's abort system, were further pushed without explanation from dates in early-to-mid 2019 to late 2019. Boeing conducted

8346-534: The need for a traditional, disposable escape tower . Furthermore, instead of housing the critical and expensive life support , thruster , and propellant storage systems in a disposable service module , Dragon 2 integrates them within the capsule for reuse. The trunk serves as an adapter between the capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage and also includes solar panels , a heat-dissipation radiator , and fins to provide aerodynamic stability during emergency aborts. Dragon 2 integrates solar arrays directly into

8453-444: The need for durable high emissivity coatings that can withstand multiple thermal cycles constitutes a key requirement in the development of new reusable spacecraft. Current materials for such high emissivity coatings include transition metal disilicides. Ablative heat shields are reliable, but are diminished with use and heavy. Reinforced carbon-carbon heat tiles such as those used on the Space Shuttle are fragile, contributing to

8560-530: The ocean. Starship is designed to propulsively land using its Raptor engines. It aims to be "caught" by the launch tower, as is done for the Super Heavy booster. This reduces the mass of landing infrastructure on the vehicle by eliminating the need for traditional landing legs. After a spacecraft is recovered, it may need to be refurbished before its next flight. Depending on the spacecraft design, this process may be lengthy and expensive, and there may be

8667-993: The orbital insertion burn, following separation from the Centaur upper stage during launch. Once in space, Starliner spacecraft can survive up to 60 hours in free flight. Unlike Crew Dragon, Starliner is designed to return to Earth on land instead of ocean, using airbags to cushion the vehicle's impact with the ground. Four sites in the western contiguous United States – the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah , Edwards Air Force Base in California , White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico , and Willcox Playa in Arizona – will serve as landing ranges for returning Starliner spacecraft, though in an emergency scenario, it

8774-478: The other type of spacecraft is grounded. On 31 August 2022, NASA awarded SpaceX with an additional 5 flights bringing the total number of contracted Crew Dragon flights to 14. The additional flights will run through 2030. The Crew-8 and Crew-9 missions were both modified in response to the unexpected need to support the crew of the Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT), which visited ISS during

8881-415: The passengers approximately two hours prior to the scheduled launch; the ground crew will then depart the launch pad and move to a safe distance. The launch escape system will be activated approximately 40 minutes prior to launch, with propellant loading commencing several minutes later. The first automated test mission launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on 2 March 2019. After schedule slips,

8988-434: The program. The Constellation program was officially cancelled in 2010, with NASA repurposing Orion for exploration beyond Earth, and collaborating with commercial partners for ISS crew rotation and other crewed activities in low Earth orbit following the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. This arrangement would additionally end NASA's dependency on Roscosmos ' Soyuz program to deliver its astronauts to

9095-416: The program; an extension to occupy a fifth seat is available to NASA. Both spacecraft are certified to last up to 210 days docked to the ISS. In addition, the spacecraft were designed to meet NASA's per-mission safety standard of a 1-in-270 chance of catastrophic failure , which is less risky than the 1-in-90 chance of the Space Shuttle. The spacecraft and the ISS have docking mechanisms that implement

9202-533: The protest, citing concerns for crewed operations of the ISS in the event of a delay to the Commercial Crew Program. The GAO declined Sierra Nevada's protest in January 2015, stating that evidence gathered by the GAO discredited Sierra Nevada's claims against NASA; Sierra Nevada accepted the decision. The company laid off 90 staff members working on the Dream Chaser following the CCtCap result, and repurposed

9309-458: The service module is expended during each flight. Various engines manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne for orbital maneuvering , attitude control , reaction control, and launch escape, are utilized by Starliner. Eight reaction control engines on the spacecraft's crew module and 28 reaction control engines on the spacecraft's service module provide 380 newtons (85 pounds-force) and 445 newtons (100 pounds-force) each, respectively. Also located on

9416-414: The service module, 20 custom-made Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control (OMAC) engines provide 6,700 newtons (1,500 pounds-force) of thrust each, while four RS-88 engines provide 178,000 newtons (40,000 pounds-force) of thrust each in a launch abort scenario. During a nominal flight without a launch abort, Starliner can use unspent fuel reserved for its RS-88 engines to help its OMAC engines perform

9523-499: The sole winners, with SpaceX receiving US$ 2.6 billion contract and Boeing a US$ 4.2 billion contract. Sierra Nevada filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in response, citing "serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process." The United States Court of Federal Claims upheld a decision to allow development of the Crew Dragon and Starliner to proceed during

9630-596: The space station. The background to this was that SpaceX was likely to launch its sixth flight in early 2023 potentially before Boeing's first operational flight, and NASA concluded that only SpaceX had the capability needed. NASA and Roscosmos have agreed to an annual seat-swapping agreement for three flights each. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, a Russian cosmonaut will fly on one Crew Dragon flight per year while an American astronaut will fly on one Soyuz flight per year. This arrangement ensures that ISS will have at least one crew member to operate essential services even if one or

9737-626: The spacecraft as a for-hire vehicle for commercial spaceflight. A cargo variant of the Dream Chaser would later be developed and selected by NASA to fly uncrewed resupply missions to the ISS under a Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract. While the first flights of Commercial Crew Program were originally intended to be launched by the end of 2017, Boeing announced in May 2016 that their first crewed flight would be delayed to 2018 due to problems integrating with Starliner's Atlas V N22 launch vehicle. In December 2016, SpaceX announced their first crewed flights would also be delayed to 2018, following

9844-406: The spacecraft, a pilot who serves as backup for both command and operations and two mission specialists who may have specific duties assigned depending on the mission. However, the Crew Dragon can fly missions with just two astronauts as needed, and in an emergency, up to seven astronauts could return to Earth from the ISS on Dragon. On the ground, crews enter the capsule through a side hatch. On

9951-425: The subsequent crewed orbital test. The Crew Dragon in-flight abort test was launched on 19 January 2020 at 15:30 UTC from LC-39A on a suborbital trajectory to conduct a separation and abort scenario in the troposphere at transonic velocities shortly after passing through max Q , where the vehicle experiences maximum aerodynamic pressure. The Dragon 2 used its SuperDraco abort engines to push itself away from

10058-457: The system during SpaceX's Demo-2 mission. On 17 April 2020, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the first crewed Crew Dragon Demo-2 to the International Space Station would launch on 27 May 2020. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley crewed the mission, marking the first crewed launch to the International Space Station from U.S. soil since STS-135 in July 2011. The original launch

10165-705: The total to fourteen and the total contract value to $ 4.93 billion. The Commercial Crew Program uses the SpaceX Crew Dragon to shuttle astronauts to and from the ISS. The Boeing CST-100 Starliner will join it in this role after it is human-rated. Both spacecraft are automated but can be remotely controlled from the ground or manually controlled by their crew via touch screens in case of an emergency. The crew cabins of both spacecraft feature 11 cubic meters (390 cubic feet) of pressurized volume, and can be configured to carry up to seven crew each, though NASA will only send up to four crew on each mission in

10272-482: The trunk's structure, replacing the deployable panels of its predecessor, Dragon 1. The trunk can also accommodate unpressurized cargo, such as the Roll Out Solar Array transported to the ISS. The trunk is connected to the capsule using a fitting known as "the claw." The typical Crew Dragon mission includes four astronauts: a commander who leads the mission and has primary responsibility for operating

10379-542: The use of the SuperDraco thrusters for propulsive landing was enabled again, but only as a back-up for parachute emergencies. Crew Dragon is used by both commercial and government customers. Axiom launches commercial astronauts to the ISS and intends to eventually launch to their own private space station. NASA flights to the ISS have four astronauts, with the added payload mass and volume used to carry pressurized cargo. On 16 September 2014, NASA announced that SpaceX and Boeing had been selected to provide crew transportation to

10486-557: The vehicle's retirement in 2011. As of November 2024 , Space Shuttle Discovery holds the record for the most spaceflights by a single spacecraft at 39. The Space Shuttle program faced criticism that it failed to reduce the cost of access to space and had safety concerns following the Challenger and Columbia disasters. The SpaceX Dragon 1 first flew in 2010, and became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered from orbit. In 2012, Dragon became

10593-574: Was a finalist, it was rejected due to concerns about the lack of detail in Alliant Techsystems's proposal. In December 2012, the three CCiCap winners were each given an additional USD$ 10 million in funding as the first of two series of "certification products contracts" (CPC) to allow for further testing, engineering standards, and design analysis to meet NASA's safety requirements for crewed spaceflight. The second CPC series manifested as Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap),

10700-537: Was declared a "high-visibility close call" by NASA following an independent review, and a second Orbital Flight Test (Boeing OFT-2) was scheduled for July 2021, with Boeing covering the cost of the flight in lieu of additional CCDev funding. Amid further uncertainties about the Commercial Crew Program's progress, NASA purchased a seat on the Soyuz MS-17 mission to ensure participation in Expedition 64 in

10807-578: Was detected after the flight in one of the eight SuperDraco engines causing it to under perform, but did not materially affect the flight. On 24 November 2015, SpaceX conducted a test of Dragon 2's hovering abilities at the firm's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas . In a video, the spacecraft is shown suspended by a hoisting cable and igniting its SuperDraco engines to hover for about 5 seconds, balancing on its 8 engines firing at reduced thrust to compensate exactly for gravity. The test vehicle

10914-480: Was in 2023, and it reached space the same year. In 2024, Starship successfully reentered the atmosphere and completed propulsive splashdowns in the Indian Ocean, although as of November 2024 it has not been recovered from space intact. Reusable spacecraft must survive reentry and safely return to the surface. The mass of any hardware dedicated for this reduces potential payload mass. Orbital spacecraft initiate

11021-568: Was initially called "DragonRider" and it was intended from the beginning to support a crew of seven or a combination of crew and cargo. Earlier spacecraft had a berthing port and were berthed to ISS by ISS personnel. Dragon 2 instead has an IDSS -compatible docking port to dock to the International Docking Adapter ports on ISS. It is able to perform fully autonomous rendezvous and docking with manual override ability. For typical missions, Crew Dragon will remain docked to

11128-416: Was postponed to 30 May 2020 due to weather conditions at the launch site. The second launch attempt was successful, with capsule C206, later named Endeavour by the crew, launching on 30 May 2020 19:22 UTC . The capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station on 31 May 2020 at 14:27 UTC. On 2 August 2020, Crew Dragon undocked and splashed-down successfully in the Atlantic Ocean. Launching in

11235-540: Was still underway in September 2021 and launch was postponed indefinitely. This uncrewed test, Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2 , launched on 19 May 2022, and landed successfully on 25 May. On February 28, 2022, NASA announced that it had awarded three additional crew missions to SpaceX bringing the total crew missions for SpaceX to nine and the total contract value to $ 3,490,872,904. In September 2022, NASA announced yet another addition, this time of five missions, bringing

11342-614: Was the same capsule that performed the pad abort test earlier in 2015; it was nicknamed DragonFly . In 2015, NASA named its first Commercial Crew astronaut cadre of four veteran astronauts to work with SpaceX and Boeing – Robert Behnken , Eric Boe , Sunita Williams , and Douglas Hurley . The Demo-1 mission completed the last milestone of the Commercial Crew Development program, paving the way to starting commercial services under an upcoming ISS Crew Transportation Services contract. On 3 August 2018, NASA announced

11449-560: Was used for the In-Flight Abort Test with C206 being planned for use during Demo-2. This was the final flight test of the spacecraft before it began carrying astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Prior to the flight test, teams completed launch day procedures for the first crewed flight test, from suit-up to launch pad operations. The joint teams conducted full data reviews that needed to be completed prior to NASA astronauts flying on

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