Dragon was the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station, doing so during SpaceX’s C2+ mission in 2012.
The uncrewed Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket on May 22, 2012, as part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. After demonstrations and testing, it was captured by the station’s robotic Canadarm2 and berthed on May 25.
Dragon delivered cargo and later returned materials to Earth, making it significant because it was the first commercial spacecraft to complete both an uncrewed delivery and an ocean recovery from the station. Earlier commercial vehicles had not performed this complete service.
Crew Dragon is a later crew-rated version of SpaceX’s spacecraft. Cygnus is another commercial cargo vehicle, but its first station arrival came after Dragon’s historic 2012 mission.