SpaceX announces Dragon2 - Men in Space

[spuwho]

http://www.spacex.com/webcast   

SpaceX is announcing their manned flight spaceship the Dragon 2 live.

[spuwho]

Per Business Insider:

SpaceX Will Unveil Its First Private Space Taxi At 10 PM ET — Here's A First Look



The Dragon V2 is an upgraded version of the Dragon cargo ship, which has successfully delivered food and other supplies to the space station three times since 2012.

NASA has been entirely dependent on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to get American astronauts to and from the space station since the agency retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011. This comes at a cost of around $71 million per person. The need for private "space taxis" has become even more crucial as tensions between the U.S. and Russia continue to run high over the crisis in Ukraine.

Space X is one of three companies that has received funding through NASA's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program to develop a space taxi with the goal of having one ready to fly crew to the space station by 2017.

Other competitors include Boeing, which recently released interior renderings for its manned space capsule named CST-100, and the Sierra Nevada Corporation, which has been designing the Dream Chaser. SpaceX may have a leg up on the competition since they've already successfully pitched and won a cargo contract with NASA for the original Dragon.

The Dragon V2 will be outfitted with SuperDraco thruster engines, which "will be able to provide astronauts with the unprecedented ability to escape from danger at any point during the ascent trajectory," SpaceX said.

Dragon 2.0 can fit up to seven astronauts, whereas the Soyuz capsules can only carry three.

Here's a first look at the detail of the seat from the new capsule:

[spuwho]

[spuwho]

External thrusters are the first ever to use 3D printing in making them.

[spuwho]

[BridgeTroll]

Looks like a Disney ride...

[Jason]

Sign me up!


.... well when I win the lottery. 

[BridgeTroll]

Sign me up!


.... well when I win the lottery. 

I will sit right next to ya!

[PeeJayEss]

Not mentioned in the article (at least what is posted) but even more exciting/important: it's reusable and capable of making controlled landings. So cool.

[FSBA]

Hopefully this is the start of a 2nd Golden Age in American space exploration.

[blizz01]

Still planning to use Kennedy Space Center?

[spuwho]

Yes. Spacex has won a contract to manage space launches off of Pad 39A of which they plan to use frequently.

NASA has retained exclusive rights to 39B for SRS & Orion launches.

Spacex has been hiring on the Space Coast to support their growth.

They have so many launches in their manifest they are running out of pads to stage them.

[Buforddawg]

This is awesome.  Here's an article on SpaceX's new Dragon V2 space ship.  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2458743,00.asp

[spuwho]

This is awesome.  Here's an article on SpaceX's new Dragon V2 space ship.  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2458743,00.asp

The demo video of Dragon V2 can be played from here:

http://new.livestream.com/spacex/DragonV2/videos/52348399