At its California headquarters, SpaceX has unveiled the upgraded version of its Dragon spaceship, a capsule that will potentially be used to carry astronauts into orbit.
Shorealone Films photographer Matt Hartman was there and took these images.
The new capsule, whose shape is reminiscent of the Apollo command module, is equipped with 8 powerful engines and landing legs that make precision touchdowns, like those performed by helicopters, possible. Rather than parachuting into the ocean the new spaceship can hypothetically land on any kind of surface.
“That is how a 21st century spaceship should land,” said SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk.
The Dragon v2, launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will initially fly without passengers at the end of next year. Its first piloted flight is planned for 2016.
The reusable spaceship could be used to launch NASA’s astronauts into space, thereby restoring the U.S.'s ability to launch and recover its astronauts.
The U.S. lost this capability after the Space Shuttles were retired in 2011. Since then, American astronauts have traveled to the International Space Station via Russia’s Soyuz. This costs the U.S. some $60 million per astronaut.
Along with the SNC Dream Chaser and the Boeing CST-100, SpaceX Dragon is one of the three commercial spaceflight transportation systems currently being developed with the financial and technical support of NASA. NASA will eventually select one or two of these projects to launch humans into space beginning in 2017.
The predecessor of the new Dragon v2 capsule, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft (Space Shuttle Orbiter replacement), recently completed the third commercial resupply mission and fourth visit to the International Space Station with a launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (closely followed by the Russian ocean tug “Nikolay Chiker”).
This article originally appeared at The Aviationist. Copyright 2014. Follow The Aviationist on Twitter.
Read more: http://theaviationist.com/2014/06/02/spacex-unveils-dragon-v2/#ixzz33WHrefLT
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