Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
SpaceX was contracted under COTS in 2006. SpaceX also has awards under CCDev2 (US$ 75 million), CCiCap (US$ 440 million) and CCtCAP (US$ 2.6 billion).
SpaceX was established in 2002 by PayPal founder Elon Musk. Design and manufacturing facilities are located in Hawthorne, California, near the Los Angeles International Airport. Test facilities are located in central Texas. Launches taken place at Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atol and Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Their launch vehicles include the Falcon 1, a two stage liquid oxygen/kerosene fueled vehicle for placing satellites in to low earth orbit. A single engine powers the first stage.
The Falcon 9 is also a two stage liquid oxygen/kerosene powered vehicle, but considerably large, having nine engines in the first stage.
The Falcon Heavy, under development, builds upon the technology of the Falcon 9. It will be the most powerful rocket in the world, producing 3.8 millions pounds of thrust at liftoff. Capability to low earth orbit will be over double what the space shuttle was able to accomplish. Payloads to interplanetary space will also be possible.
The Dragon is a reusable spacecraft which will initially be used to carry payloads to the International Space Station. As the craft is proven and experience gained, the goal in the future will be to also ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Working towards this goal, two launch abort tests are slated for 2014.
On 23 May 2012, a Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral sending a cargo filled Dragon capsule towards the space station. The Dragon was captured by the space station's remote arm and docked to the station on 25 May 2012. On 31 May 2012, an ocean splashdown in the Pacific went as planned. Clearing this hurdle, SpaceX commenced with 12 cargo flights to the space station as contracted by NASA. The contract was later extended.
![]() Falcon 9 on the launch pad Credit: NASA |
![]() Dragon being moved by the ISS robotic arm Credit: NASA |
Note on dock and undock times: Our dock and undock times may differ from other sources because they confuse capture/release with berthing/unberthing. These are distinct events.
Craft | Launch Date | Launch Time | Initial Dock Date | Inital Dock Time | Final Undock Date | Final Undock Time | Reentry Date | Reentry Time | Station | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dragon C2+ | 22 May 2012 | 07:44:38 | 25 May 2012 | 16:02:00 | 31 May 2012 | 09:49:00 | 31 May 2012 | 15:42:00 | ISS | Demo flight. Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-1 | 8 October 2012 | 00:35:00 | 10 October 2012 | 13:03:00 | 28 October 2012 | 11:55:00 | 28 October 2012 | 19:22:00 | ISS | Engine anomaly left secondary payload in a useless orbit: Primary payload captu |
SpaceX CRS-2 | 1 March 2013 | 15:10:00 | 3 March 2013 | 13:56:00 | 26 March 2013 | 08:10:00 | 26 March 2013 | 16:34:00 | ISS | Anomaly with 3 thruster pods delayed capture and berthing by a day |
SpaceX CRS-3 | 18 April 2014 | 19:25:00 | 20 April 2014 | 14:06:00 | 18 May 2014 | 11:53:00 | 18 May 2014 | 19:05:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-4 | 21 September 2014 | 05:52:03 | 23 September 2014 | 13:30:00 | 25 October 2014 | 13:15:00 | 25 October 2014 | 13:38:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm (Undock time approximate) |
SpaceX CRS-5 | 10 January 2015 | 09:47:10 | 12 January 2015 | 13:54:00 | 10 February 2015 | 17:11:00 | 11 February 2015 | 00:44:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-6 | 14 April 2015 | 20:10:00 | 17 April 2017 | 13:29:00 | 21 May 2015 | 09:04:00 | 21 May 2015 | 16:42:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-7 | 28 June 2015 | 14:21:00 | 30 November -0001 | 30 November -0001 | 28 June 2015 | 14:23:00 | ISS | Vehicle exploded 2 min 19 sec after liftoff | ||
SpaceX CRS-8 | 8 April 2016 | 20:43:00 | 10 April 2016 | 13:57:00 | 11 May 2016 | 11:02:00 | 11 May 2016 | 18:51:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-9 | 18 July 2016 | 04:44:00 | 20 July 2016 | 14:03:00 | 25 August 2016 | 21:00:00 | 26 August 2016 | 15:47:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-10 | 19 February 2017 | 14:39:00 | 23 February 2017 | 13:12:00 | 18 March 2017 | 09:11:00 | 19 March 2017 | 14:50:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-11 | 3 June 2017 | 21:07:38 | 5 June 2017 | 16:07:00 | 2 July 2017 | 18:00:00 | 3 July 2017 | 06:41:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-12 | 14 August 2017 | 16:31:37 | 16 August 2017 | 12:07:00 | 16 September 2017 | 21:58:00 | 17 September 2017 | 14:15:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-13 | 17 December 2017 | 15:36:09 | 17 December 2017 | 13:26:00 | 12 January 2018 | 10:47:00 | 13 January 2018 | 15:37:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-14 | 2 April 2018 | 20:30:38 | 4 April 2018 | 13:00:00 | 5 May 2018 | 08:00:00 | 5 May 2018 | 19:03:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-15 | 29 June 2018 | 09:42:00 | 2 July 2018 | 13:50:00 | 3 August 2018 | 16:38:00 | 3 August 2018 | 22:17:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-16 | 5 December 2018 | 18:16:00 | 8 December 2018 | 15:36:00 | 13 January 2019 | 20:10:00 | 14 January 2019 | 05:12:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-17 | 4 May 2019 | 06:48:00 | 6 May 2019 | 13:33:00 | 3 June 2019 | 12:25:00 | 3 June 2019 | 21:10:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-18 | 25 July 2019 | 22:01:00 | 27 July 2019 | 18:01:00 | 27 August 2019 | 12:25:00 | 27 August 2019 | 20:20:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-19 | 5 December 2019 | 17:29:24 | 8 December 2019 | 12:47:00 | 7 January 2020 | 08:41:00 | 7 January 2020 | 15:41:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-20 | 7 March 2020 | 04:50:31 | 9 March 2020 | 12:18:00 | 7 April 2020 | 13:30:00 | 7 April 2020 | 18:50:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
SpaceX CRS-21 | 6 December 2020 | 16:17:08 | 7 December 2020 | 18:40:00 | 12 January 2021 | 14:05:00 | 14 January 2021 | 01:26:00 | ISS | First 2nd gen Cargo Dragon |
SpaceX CRS-22 | 3 June 2021 | 17:29:15 | 5 June 2021 | 09:09:00 | 8 July 2021 | 14:45:00 | 10 July 2021 | 03:29:00 | ISS | |
SpaceX CRS-23 | 29 August 2021 | 07:14:49 | 30 August 2001 | 14:30:00 | 30 September 2021 | 13:12:00 | 1 October 2021 | 02:57:00 | ISS | |
SpaceX CRS-24 | 21 December 2021 | 10:07:08 | 22 December 2021 | 08:41:00 | 23 January 2022 | 15:40:00 | 24 January 2022 | 21:05:00 | ISS | |
SpaceX CRS-25 | 14 July 2022 | 00:44:22 | 16 July 2022 | 15:21:00 | 19 August 2022 | 15:05:00 | 20 August 2022 | 18:53:00 | ISS | |
SpaceX CRS-26 | 26 November 2022 | 19:20:42 | 27 November 2022 | 12:39:00 | 9 January 2023 | 22:05:00 | 11 January 2023 | 10:19:00 | ISS | |
SpaceX CRS-27 | 15 March 2023 | 00:30:00 | 16 March 2023 | 11:31:00 | 15 April 2023 | 15:05:00 | 15 April 2023 | 20:58:00 | ISS |
Name | Launch Date | Station |
---|---|---|
Dragon CRS-28 | 3 June 2023 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-29 | December 2023 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-30 | 2024 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-31 | 2024 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-32 | 2025 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-33 | 2025 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-34 | 2026 | ISS |
Dragon CRS-35 | 2026 | ISS |
The Dragons
Capsule | Status | Uses |
---|---|---|
C101 | Retired | Orbital maneuvering and reentry test |
C102 | Retired | SpX C2+ |
C103 | Retired | CRS-1 |
C104 | Retired | CRS-2 |
C105 | Retired | CRS-3 |
C106 | Retired | CRS-4; CRS-11; CRS-19 |
C107 | Retired | CRS-5 |
C108 | Retired | CRS-6; CRS-13; CRS-18 |
C109 | Destroyed | CRS-7 |
C110 | Retired | CRS-8; CRS-14 |
C111 | Retired | CRS-9; CRS-15 |
C112 | Retired | CRS-10; CRS-16; CRS-20 |
C113 | Retired | CRS-12; CRS-17 |
Capsule | Type | Status | Uses |
---|---|---|---|
C201 (Dragonfly) | Prototype | Retired | Pad abort test; tethered hover tests |
C202 (Quad Module) | Prototype | Retired | Pressure vessel for structural testing |
C203 (ECLSS Module) | Prototype | Active | Environmental Control & Life Support System module |
C204 | Crew | Destroyed | SpaceX Demo 1; static test firing |
C205 | Crew | Retired | In-Flight Abort Test |
C206 (Endeavour) | Crew | Active | Crew Dragon Demo 2; Crew 2; Axion-1; Crew 6 |
C207 (Resilience) | Crew | Active | Crew 1; Inspiration4 |
C208 | Cargo | Active | CRS-21; CRS-23; CRS-25 |
C209 | Cargo | Active | CRS-22; CRS-24; CRS-27 |
C210 (Endurance) | Crew | Active | Crew 3; Crew 5 |
C211 | Cargo | Active | CRS-26 |
C212 (Freedom) | Crew | Active | Crew 4; Crew 2; Axion 2 |
C2xx | Cargo | Under construction |
Page last modified: 31 May 2023 20:51:32.