SpaceX Dragon

Dragon is a family of spacecraft developed and produced by American private space transportation company SpaceX. The first family member, later named Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the ISS between 2010 and 2020 before retiring. This version, not designed to carry astronauts, was funded by NASA with $396 million awarded through the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program,^[1] with SpaceX announced as a winner of the first round of funding on August 18, 2006.

SpaceX developed its Dragon 2 spacecraft starting in 2014, with a cargo and crewed version. It entered service in 2019 with the Demo-1 flight, and performed its first flight with astronauts on May 30, 2020, during the Crew Dragon Demo-2 flight.

SpaceX also investigated a version named Red Dragon for Mars exploration, but the project did not proceed.

A version named Dragon XL is proposed to provide Gateway Logistics Services to the Lunar Gateway.

^ "Statement of William H. Gerstenmaier Associate Administrator for Space Operations before the Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics U.S. House of Representatives" (PDF). U.S. House of Representatives. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2014.

[BillTest-1] "Statement of William H. Gerstenmaier Associate Administrator for Space Operations before the Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics U.S. House of Representatives" (PDF). U.S. House of Representatives. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2014.

[1]