FIRST PRIVATE

SPACECRAFT TO THE
SPACE STATION

DRAGON LAUNCH MANIFEST (/MISSIONS)

→

CREW DRAGON (/CREW-DRAGON)

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Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth.

deliver both cargo and people to orbiting Currently Dragon carries cargo to space, but it
destinations. Dragon made history in 2012 when it was designed from the beginning to carry humans.
became the first commercial spacecraft in history Under an agreement with NASA, SpaceX is now
to deliver cargo to the International Space Station developing the refinements that will enable Dragon
and safely return cargo to Earth, a feat previously to fly crew. (http://www.spacex.com/crew-
achieved only by governments. It is the only dragon) Dragon's first manned test flight is
spacecraft currently flying that is capable of expected to take place as early as 2018.

OVERVIEW
TOTAL LAUNCH PAYLOAD MASS TOTAL RETURN PAYLOAD MASS

6,000 kg 13,228 lbs 3,000 kg 6,614 lbs

TOTAL LAUNCH PAYLOAD VOLUME TOTAL RETURN PAYLOAD VOLUME

25 m3 883 ft 3 11 m3 388 ft 3

PRESSURIZED SECTION
The pressurized section of the spacecraft, also referred to as
the capsule, is designed to carry both cargo and humans into
space. Towards the base of the capsule but outside the
pressurized structure are the Draco thrusters
(/news/2013/04/04/draco-thrusters), Dragon's guidance
navigation and control (GNC) bay and FIG. 1
(/news/2013/05/16/dragon-guidance-navigation-control- Schematic of the available
space for payload in the
gnc-bay) Dragon’s advanced heat shield
pressurized section.
(/news/2013/04/04/pica-heat-shield).

SPACECRAFT PAYLOAD VOLUME

1TRUNK
1 m3 388 ft 3

Dragon’s trunk supports the spacecraft during ascent

to space, carries unpressurized cargo and houses
Dragon’s solar arrays. The trunk and solar arrays
remain attached to Dragon until shortly before
reentry to Earth’s atmosphere, when they are FIG. 2

jettisoned.
Schematic of the available
space for payload in the trunk.

TRUNK PAYLOAD VOLUME

14 m3 494 ft 3

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

HEIGHT WITH TRUNK DIAMETER SIDEWALL ANGLE ORBIT DURATION

7.2 m 23.6 ft 3.7 m 12 ft 15 ° Up to 2 Years

INSIDE THE SPACECRAFT

The Dragon spacecraft has three configurations to meet a variety of needs: critical to crew and space station safety to be fully tested on unmanned cargo
cargo, crew and DragonLab. To ensure a rapid transition from cargo to crew flights. With DragonLab, essentially the same spacecraft can be used as a
capability, the cargo and crew configurations of Dragon are almost identical. platform for in-space technology demonstrations and experiments.
This commonality simplifies the human rating process, allowing systems
RECENT DRAGON MILESTONES
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MAY 22, 2015
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PAD ABORT TEST (HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=WCHD9AMKXA0) EX)
Dragon traveled from 0-100 mph in 1.2 seconds, reaching a max velocity of 345 mph. READ ARTICLE (HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?
V=WCHD9AMKXA0)
MAY 4, 2015

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SPACEX’S PAD ABORT TEST (/NEWS/2015/01/10/SPACEX-LAUNCHES-FIFTH-OFFICIAL-

MISSION-RESUPPLY-INTERNATIONAL-SPACE-STATION)
Dragon’s first critical flight test in preparation for our first human mission.READ ARTICLE (/NEWS/2015/05/04/5-THINGS-KNOW-ABOUT-SPACEXS-PAD-
ABORT-TEST)

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