SpaceX's Dragon to Return Americans to Space

In August 2012, NASA chose SpaceX to complete final modifications necessary to prepare Dragon for crew and return Americans to space. While Dragon is initially being used to transport cargo to the International Space Station, both Dragon and Falcon 9 were designed from the beginning to transport people. The Dragon crew vehicle will feature seats for seven astronauts, the most technically advanced launch escape system ever developed, and advanced environments and controls.

For more information on SpaceX:


http://www.spacex.com/

http://twitter.com/spacex

http://www.facebook.com/SpaceX

• Category

  Science & Technology

[supermeerkat]

The most efficient one would be Soyuz.

[AresWarriorOfTheSun]

I agree with on most of your comment, but America isn't a continent. There is North America and South America. Together they form the Americas.

[runningray]

Soyuz only carries 3 people, Dragon will carry up to 7. Soyuz is not more efficient.

[poserboy2012]

Well the most efficient was the shuttle because the same orbitor could be used multiple times

[thedarkcorrupter]

The company made its first billion off of a NASA contract, they started dragon so the American gov would pay to get astronauts to space. Its an American company making most of its cash from the US. so yeah its promoting getting americans to space

[MicrowavedCarrot]

No, Soyuz is just very reliable, and currently the only spacecraft that can take humans to and from the International Space Station. Not necessarily the most efficient.

[TeacherFlash]

lol I agree 100%

[Nick Sevcik]

besides, rockets look cooler :3

[Nick Sevcik]

you fall and are fine because its only 10 meters

[Vasil Krustev]

Currently NASA is paying $50-60 mil per seat on Soyuz. Space X is projecting ~$20 mil per seat on Dragon. Even if that's too optimistic, they should be able to compete favorably with the russians.

[TeacherFlash]

one word... "Soyuz"

[gamemakerjunior]

Obviously there isn't any way around that with Dragon. But it's not that different to safety risks with other aircraft/spacecraft. What if the parachutes had failed on one of the old Apollo modules? What if the rocket's engines fail during launch? What if the hydraulics had seized up in the Space Shuttle's wings on final approach? What if a thruster fails during re-entry? There are phases all throughout every manned spacecraft's mission where a system's failure is unrecoverable and fatal.