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The SpaceX Dragon 2 is a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX as the successor to Dragon 1, a reusable cargo spacecraft. There are two variants: Crew Dragon, a space capsule capable of ferrying up to seven astronauts, and Cargo Dragon, an updated replacement for the original Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and returns to Earth via an ocean splashdown. Unlike its predecessor, the spacecraft can autonomously dock to the International Space Station (ISS) instead of being berthed. Crew Dragon is equipped with an integrated launch escape system (LES) capable of accelerating the vehicle away from the rocket in an emergency at 11.8 m/s2 (39 ft/s2), accomplished using four side-mounted thruster pods, each with two SuperDraco engines. The spacecraft features redesigned solar arrays and a modified outer mold line compared to the original Dragon, and possesses new flight computers and avionics.
Crew Dragon serves as one of two spacecraft that are expected to transport crews to and from the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, the other being the Boeing CST-100 Starliner; both craft succeeding the crew orbital transportation capabilities of the U.S. Space Shuttles which retired from service in 2011. It is also expected to be used in flights by American space tourism company Space Adventures and to shuttle tourists to and from Axiom Space's planned space station. Crew Dragon's first uncrewed test flight occurred in March 2019, and its first crewed test flight – with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley – occurred in May 2020. This marked the first time a private company launched a crewed orbital spacecraft. The first flight of a Cargo Dragon launched in December 2020.