Elon Musk, the CEO and founder of the private company SpaceX has revealed the manned version of his company’s commercial Dragon spaceship.
Elon Musk, the CEO and founder of the private company SpaceX has revealed the manned version of his company’s commercial Dragon spaceship.
Dragon V2 was unveiled at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
When it’s operational, the spacecraft will be able to carry a crew of seven passengers and cargo to the International Space Station.
One of the big advantages of Dragon V2 according to Musk is that it is reusable and in his words can "land anywhere on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter".
The unmanned version of the Dragon has already made several trips to and from the International Space Station over the past two years.
NASA has been depending on Russian technology to launch manned rockets into orbit since the space shuttle was decommissioned in 2011, and because of the latest political issues with the Ukraine, Russia has threatened to withdraw their assistance with spacecraft launches.
SpaceX is one of three commercial companies vying for government funding to create the new manned spacecraft that will be able to take American astronauts to the International Space Station by the year 2017.
