SpaceX Dragon

Dragon is a reusable spacecraft in a capsule configuration; it is designed to carry both cargo and crew to/from space. It's initial mission will be to deliver cargo to/from the International Space Station (ISS), and as the systems matures crew transport capabilities will be added. My personal involvement in this project is as a systems engineer helping with Dragon / ISS integration activities, and also as a Mission Operatiosn Engineer working at the recovery console position in the Mission Control Center during flight.

Spacecraft Design

Dragon is launched on top of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft itself consists of a capsule (the reusable portion), and a "trunk" - a cylincrical structure attached under the capsule's heat shield which supports the solar arrays, and unpressurized cargo.

Mission Operations

During a Dragon mission, the spacecraft is monitored and controlled from the SpaceX Mission Control Center (MCC-X) in Hawthorne California. After Dragon reenters the atmosphere and returns to Earth, it splashes down in the Pacific ocean near the California coast, where it is recovered by boat and returned to SpaceX facilities.