In a carefully choreographed event that felt more like an pop music awards show or an Apple product launch than anything we're used to with space flight, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tonight unveiled the newest edition of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
DragonV2 is designed to carry up to 7 astronauts to space. In the archived livestream of the unveiling event, below, Musk explains what's under the hood. Described by its chief designer as "a true 21st-century spacecraft," the DragonV2 flight could achieve its first unmanned flight as soon as late 2015, and its first crewed flight as soon as mid-2016.
Photos of the new spacecraft follow, provided by SpaceX.
"That is how a 21st century spaceship should land." –@elonmusk #DragonV2 pic.twitter.com/JN0a9dFJ4u
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 30, 2014