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.

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

_Launch dates are listed in UTC._

### Crew Dragon flights

|Mission|Space capsule|Launch date|Landing date|Description|scope="col" style="width: 210px;"|Crew|Outcome|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_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.|No crew||||
|C204|2 March 2019|8 March 2019|Test flight of the capsule - without people in the capsule.|No crew||||
|C205|19 January 2020|19 January 2020||No crew||||
|_Endeavour_|30 May 2020|2 August 2020||||||

#### Later flights

- From 16 November 2020 to 2 May 2021, the Crew-1 mission happened. The successful mission used the space capsule _Resilience_ and the crew was

- 23 April 2021 to 9 November 2021: the Crew-2 mission used space capsule _Endeavour_. The flight was a success. The crew was

- 16 September 2021 to 18 September 2021: Inspiration4 mission used space capsule _Resilience_. The flight was a success. The crew was

- 11 November 2021 to 6 May 2022: Crew-3  mission used space capsule _Endurance_. The flight was a success. The crew was

8 April 2022 to 25 April 2022: Axiom-1 mission used space capsule _Resilience_. The crew was

- 27 April 2022 to 14 October 2022: Crew-4 mission used the space capsule _Freedom_. The crew was
    - Kjell Lindgren
 Bob Hines
 Samantha Cristoforetti
 Jessica Watkins

- From 2022 until March 2023, SpaceX had these four crew members at ISS
The mission was Crew-5.

- In March 2023, the Crew-6 flight started. The astronauts are
    - Stephen Bowen
  Warren Hoburg
  Sultan Al Neyadi
  Andrey Fedyaev

- In May 2023, the Ax-2 flight started. (Axiom Space has the contract for the flight.) The spacecraft got into orbit (on its way to ISS). The astronauts are
    - Peggy Whitson
  John Shoffner
  Ali AlQarni,
  Rayyanah Barnawi the country's first female astronaut

- No earlier than July 2023, the Polaris Dawn flight is supposed to start. The flight is supposed to be part of the three flights of the Polaris program; The two first flights are supposed to use Crew Dragons.

### Cargo Dragon flights

- During 6 December 2020 and 14 January 2021, the first flight of Cargo Dragon 2, to ISS happened. The Nanoracks Bishop Airlock module was taken to the ISS along with  of cargo. The successful mission (CRS-21) used space capsule C208.

- 3 June 2021 to 10 July 2021, had a flight to the ISS: CRS-22. The solar arrays iROSA 1 and iROSA 2, were taken there. The successful mission used space capsule C209.

- 29 August 2021 to 1 October 2021, was a flight to the ISS. The successful mission (CRS-23) used space capsule C208.

- 21 December 2021 to 24 January 2022, was a flight to the ISS. The successful mission (CRS-24) used space capsule C209.

- 15 July 2022 to 20 August 2022, the fifth Cargo Dragon 2 flight to the ISS: CRS-25. The successful mission used space capsule C208.
- On November 26, 2022 the sixth Cargo Dragon 2 flight to the ISS, started: CRS-26. It is docked to the ISS, as of 2022's fourth quarter.

## Design

Crew Dragon has eight SuperDraco engines, with each engine able to produce  of thrust to be used for launch aborts (or giving up a launch - after it has already started). Each pod also contains four Draco thrusters that can be used for attitude control and orbital maneuvers (or using engines while already in an orbit). The SuperDraco engine combustion chamber is printed of Inconel, an alloy of nickel and iron, using a process of direct metal laser sintering.