Dragon C2 [NASA]
Dragon is a space capsule designed by SpaceX to provide supplies to the International space station.
The Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members. Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, Dragon will be utilized to fulfill the NASA COTS contract for demonstration of cargo re-supply of the ISS.
The Dragon capsule is comprised of three main elements: the Nosecone, which protects the vessel and the docking adaptor during ascent; the Pressurized Section, which houses the crew and/or pressurized cargo; and the Service Section, which contains avionics, the RCS system, parachutes, and other support infrastructure. In addition an unpressurized trunk is included, which provides for the stowage of unpressurized cargo and will support Dragon's solar arrays and thermal radiators.
SpaceX was one of two winners of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition. The SpaceX portion of the award is $278 million for three flight demonstrations of Falcon-9 v1.0 carrying the Dragon spaceship, which occured in mid 2009 and 2010. The prototype Dragon C1 capsule lacked several systems of the operational Dragon-C capsule. The second and third test flights were eventually combined into one mission and culminated in the transfer of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and return of cargo safely to Earth.
The agreement also contains an option for three demonstration flights of the seven person crewed version of Dragon taking people to the ISS and back. The cargo Dragon and crewed Dragon are almost identical, with the exception of the crew escape system, the life support system and onboard controls that allow the crew to take over control from the flight computer when needed.
In addition to servicing NASA needs, the F9/Dragon will possibly also be of service to Bigelow Aerospace, which plans to orbit a commercial space station. Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX have an ongoing dialogue to ensure that F9/Dragon meets the human transportation needs of their planned space station as efficiently as possible.
In December 2008 SpaceX received a contract under CRS-1 to deliver 20.000 kg to the ISS by the means of 12 Dragon flights. In March 2015, three more missions were added to the contract for launches in 2017. In December 2015, five final missions were awarded under CRS-1.
Dragon CRS-7 was lost in a launch failure.
Under the CRS-2 selction in January 2015 Dragon was selected for a minimum of six missions, which will use a cargo version of the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Supply and return |
Operator: | SpaceX |
Contractors: | SpaceX |
Equipment: | |
Configuration: | |
Propulsion: | 18 Draco thrusters |
Power: | 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | |
Mass: | ~6650 kg (#C2) |
Orbit: | 400 km × 400 km, 51.6° (typical) |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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Dragon C2 (Dragon C102) | 2012-027A | 22.05.2012 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.0 | with Celestis 11 | |
Dragon CRS-1 (SpX 1, Dragon C103) | 2012-054A | 08.10.2012 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.0 | with Orbcomm FM101 | |
Dragon CRS-2 (SpX 2, Dragon C104) | 2013-010A | 01.03.2013 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.0 | ||
Dragon CRS-3 (SpX 3, Dragon C105) | 2014-022A | 18.04.2014 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.1 | with OPALS, HDEV, ALL-STAR/THEIA, KickSat 1, SporeSat 1, TSAT, PhoneSat 2.5 | |
Dragon CRS-4 (SpX 4, Dragon C106-F1) | 2014-056A | 21.09.2014 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.1(ex) | with RapidScat, SpinSat | |
Dragon CRS-5 (SpX 5, Dragon C107) | 2015-001A | 10.01.2015 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.1 | with CATS, Flock-1d' 1, Flock-1d' 2, AESP-14 | |
Dragon CRS-6 (SpX 6, Dragon C108-F1) | 2015-021A | 14.04.2015 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.1 | with Flock-1e 1, ..., 14, Arkyd 3-Reflight, Centennial 1 | |
Dragon CRS-7 (SpX 7, Dragon C109) | 2015-F02 | 28.06.2015 | CC SLC-40 | F | Falcon-9 v1.1 | with IDA 1, Flock-1f 1, ..., 8 |
Dragon CRS-8 (SpX 8, Dragon C110-F1) | 2016-024A | 08.04.2016 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with BEAM | |
Dragon CRS-9 (SpX 9, Dragon C111-F1) | 2016-046A | 18.07.2016 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with IDA 2 | |
Dragon CRS-10 (SpX 10, Dragon C112-F1) | 2017-009A | 19.02.2017 | CCK LC-39A | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with SAGE 3, STP-H5 | |
Dragon CRS-11 (SpX 11, Dragon C106-F2) | 2017-030A | 03.06.2017 | CCK LC-39A | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with NICER, MUSES, ROSA, Bird B, Bird G, Bird J, Bird M, Bird N | |
Dragon CRS-12 (SpX 12, Dragon C113-F1) | 2017-045A | 14.08.2017 | CCK LC-39A | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with CREAM, Kestrel Eye 2M, Dellingr, ASTERIA, OSIRIS-3U | |
Dragon CRS-13 (SpX 13, Dragon C108-F2) | 2017-080A | 15.12.2017 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with TSIS 1, SDS | |
Dragon CRS-14 (SpX 14, Dragon C110-F2) | 2018-032A | 02.04.2018 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 | with MISSE-FF 1, ASIM, PFCS, RemoveDEBRIS, DebrisSat 1, DebrisSat 2, RemDeb Net, UBAKUSAT, 1KUNS-PF, Irazú | |
Dragon CRS-15 (SpX 15, Dragon C111-F2) | 2018-055A | 29.06.2018 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2(ex) | with ECOSTRESS, Bird BTN, Bird MYS, Bird PHL | |
Dragon CRS-16 (SpX 16, Dragon C112-F2) | 2018-101A | 05.12.2018 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with GEDI, TechEdSat 8, RRM3, CAT 1, CAT 2, UNITE, Delphini 1, Quantum Radar 1, Quantum Radar 2 | |
Dragon CRS-17 (SpX 17, Dragon C113-F2) | 2019-025A | 04.05.2019 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with OCO 3, STP-H6, Red-Eye 1 | |
Dragon CRS-18 (SpX 18, Dragon C108-F3) | 2019-044A | 25.07.2019 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with IDA 3, ORCA 1, RFTSat 1, Quantum Radar 3, NARSScube 2 | |
Dragon CRS-19 (SpX 19, Dragon C106-F3) | 2019-083A | 05.12.2019 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with HISUI, CIRiS, MiniCarb, VPM, CryoCube 1, QARMAN, SORTIE, AztechSat 1, EdgeCube, MakerSat 1, ORCA 2, ORCA 8 | |
Dragon CRS-20 (SpX 20, Dragon C112-F3) | 2020-016A | 07.03.2020 | CC SLC-40 | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with Bartolomeo, Lynk 04, G-Satellite, Quetzal 1 |
Further ISS missions: ISS complex
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