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.Audit of Commercial Resupply Services to the International Space Station. NASA. April 26, 2018. Report No. IG-18-016. Quote: "For SpaceX, certification of the company's unproven cargo version of its Dragon 2 spacecraft for CRS-2 missions carries risk while the company works to resolve ongoing concerns related to software traceability and systems engineering processes".

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 Crew Outcome Test flights Pad Abort Test 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  Demo-1 C204 2 March 2019 8 March 2019 Test flight of the capsule - without people in the capsule. No crew  In-Flight Abort Test C205 19 January 2020 19 January 2020   No crew  Demo-2 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.

References

Category:spaceX
Category:2019 establishments in the United States