Elon Musk's SpaceX, together with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, are two of the companies that are considered pioneers when it comes to space travel. Both companies have launched and landed spacecrafts in the atmosphere which is the farthest development in reusable rockets. Unlike Blue Origin, SpaceX's Falcon 9 is designed only to carry cargo. However, the company has since unveiled its newest innovation that is equipped to carry actual human passengers.
This weekend, SpaceX released a video documenting a successful hover launch of their passenger spacecraft, Crew Dragon. The test was performed last November in McGregor, Texas. The video followed SpaceX's experiment on the SuperDraco engines last May.
"Dragon abort test stats: 0 to 100 mph in 1.2 sec, top speed of 345 mph. Max acceleration was 6X gravity, altitude 1187 m, lateral distance 1202 m and velocity 155 m/s. Main chutes deployed 970 m" read Elon Musk's update more than six months ago.
According to a post on NASA's official blog, the Crew Dragon spacecraft would be equipped with eight SuperDraco engines. These engines would be used to slowly return the rocket to earth. However, propulsive landing would not be used for the mission as the spacecraft and its passengers would still be using parachutes.
SpaceX has previously released pictures of the Crew Dragon capsule on its official website. According to the official specifications release, the capsule is equipped with basic features that guarantees an almost comfortable journey for the astronauts. The Crew Dragon boasts of not only four windows but also seats made from the highest-grade carbon fiber and Alcantara cloth. The spacecraft is designed to be fully autonomous however according to its official specs it can also be controlled by the SpaceX mission control based in California.
View the video of the launch here. An in-depth look at SpaceX's Crew Dragon can also be seen here.