SpaceX developed the Dragon spacecraft for cargo deliveries to the International Space Station.
Dragon was created under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. Its first successful orbital flight occurred in December 2010, and it became the first commercial spacecraft to be recovered from orbit.
The cargo version delivered supplies and experiments to the station, while later Dragon 2 variants carried astronauts. This distinction matters because Dragon is both the name of the original cargo spacecraft and part of the broader Dragon spacecraft family.
Dragon is often confused with Cygnus, another commercial cargo spacecraft used by NASA, or Progress, Russia’s uncrewed resupply vehicle. SpaceX’s Dragon was notable for returning cargo to Earth rather than only burning up during reentry.