Crew Dragon is SpaceX’s human-rated spacecraft for carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Officially called Dragon 2, the spacecraft was developed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. It can launch on a Falcon 9, rendezvous with the ISS autonomously and return astronauts to Earth by parachute splashdown.
Crew Dragon completed an uncrewed demonstration mission in March 2019 and its first crewed demonstration, Demo-2, in May 2020. Its cabin includes touchscreen controls, redesigned seats and an emergency launch-abort system using SuperDraco engines.
Crew Dragon is not the same spacecraft as the original cargo Dragon, although both belong to SpaceX’s Dragon family. Crew Dragon has also been used for private orbital missions, including Inspiration4, showing that the vehicle’s role extends beyond NASA transportation.