SpaceX Dragon is also known as Cargo Dragon or Dragon 1. It was created by an American private space transportation company called SpaceX. The SpaceX Dragon belongs to the class of fractionally recyclable cargo spacecraft. SpaceX dragon was launched into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 vehicle to refill the international space station.
In the time of SpaceX Dragon single launch in December 2010. Dragon spacecraft was the first industrially built and controlled spacecraft to be retrieved successfully from orbit. A cargo alternative of SpaceX dragon on 25 May 2012 was the first economic spacecraft to be successfully appointed with and attach to the ISS. SpaceX created a second SpaceX Dragon 2 which involves the capability to transport people on 3 June 2017.
The development of this spacecraft actually started in 2004. And the company SpaceX said that this spacecraft will begin to function in 2009. In 2006, SpaceX won a contract to make use of its spacecraft for economical refill services to the international space station for the American federal space agency. The last flight of the first model of Dragon 1 was launched on 7 March 2020. The operation was the last of SpaceX of the first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) project.
Features Of SpaceX Dragon
SpaceX Dragon looks like a bell-shaped device and its underneath is in a cylindrical form. Also, it possesses a pair of solar arrays that powers the spacecraft that is fixed to the trunk. Dragon has the ability to carry 6,000 kg of items or material to the ISS. Likewise, it has the ability to carry up to seven passengers to and fro the earth and even beyond. The original Dragon arrangement was replaced by Dragon 2, which has two types of forms namely Cargo Dragon and Crew Dragon. The cargo Dragon can carry items or materials to the ISS while the Crew Dragon can carry up to seven astronauts. Crew Dragons are preparing to launch to the ISS every six months.
Development OF The SpaceX Dragon
SpaceX Dragon was launched on its first practical Commercial Resupply Service flight on 8 October 2012. And it completed its mission successfully on 28 October 2012. And NASA contracted SpaceX for 12 functional missions and prolonged the CRS contract with 8 more other flights, bringing everything to the total of 20 launches until 2019. Dragon has the ability to retrieve 3,500 kilograms of cargo to Earth or 3,000 kilograms of pressurized cargo from ISS.
In 2009, Elon Musk stated that the evolution expenses or cost of a crewed Dragon and Falcon 9 would be between US$800 million and US$1 billion. So, in 2009 and 2010, he suggested on many occasions that projects for a crewed alternative of the Dragon were advancing and had a two-to-three years lifespan for completion.
What Is So Special About Dragon Spacecraft?
SpaceX was contracted for three test flights of the SpaceX Dragon from NASA but it was later reduced to two. The first Dragon space rocket launched on its first mission contracted to NASA on the 8th of December 2010 and it was successfully retrieved following re-entry to Earth’s climate. Above all, Space Dragon is the only spacecraft flying presently that can return huge amounts of cargo to the earth.
