This book describes Dragon V2, a futuristic vehicle that not only provides a means for NASA to transport its astronauts to the orbiting outpost but also advances SpaceX's core objective of reusability. A direct descendant of Dragon, Dragon V2 can be retrieved, refurbished and re-launched. It is a spacecraft with the potential to completely revolutionize the economics of an industry where equipment costing hundreds of millions of dollars is routinely discarded after a single use. It was presented by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in May 2014 as the spaceship that will carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as soon as 2016 SpaceX's Dragon - America's Next Generation Spacecraft describes the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed this revolutionary spacecraft at the forefront of the launch industry and positioned it as the precursor for ultimately transporting humans to Mars. It describes the design and development of Dragon, provides mission highlights of the first six Commercial Resupply Missions, and explains how Musk hopes to eventually colonize Mars.

Autorentext
Seedhouse is a research scientist specializing in environmental life sciences and physiology, the subject in which he obtained his Ph.D. while working for the European Space Agency between 1996 and 1998. In 2009, he was one of the final candidates for selection as an astronaut in the CSA's Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. He is a certified commercial suborbital astronaut who will fly a payload mission in 2015/2016. Between 2008-2013 he was Director of Canada's Manned Centrifuge and Hypobaric Chamber Operations. He is also the Training Director for Astronauts for Hire. He works as manned spaceflight consultant, triathlon coach, author and public speaker.

Inhalt
Space X.- Flight Operations.- Dragon Development.- Dragon at the Space Station.- Dragon Delivers.- NASA's Crewed Development Program.- Dragon Lab.- Preparing for Crew.- Mars.