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A SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket will launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to finish certification of the Dragon 2 mission architecture for future crewed missions with ISS Expedition crew members. The Dragon 2 spacecraft will test the approach and automated docking procedure with the Space Station, marking a first for SpaceX as the previous generation of Cargo Dragons used a robotic capture and berthing instead of directly coming in for docking. Dragon 2 will remain docked to ISS for a few weeks before demonstrating...

Elon Musk is revealing the new design of the hopefully soon to be man-rated Dragon capsule. This is an important step forward for the company, and for American space travel. Innovations include: It is fully reusable, much like the grasshopper first stage, and will land on land. A Dragon 2 capsule launched from a grasshopper first stage will be an order of magnitude cheaper than any other current spacecraft. Nice safety features. While it is designed to land under rocket power, it can land via parachute like the Apollo era and current dragon capsules if the engines fail. The Dragon...