Iconic Space Vehicles Page 2

Soyuz

The Soyuz launch system (including the soyuz capsule) is probably the most important space vehicle in history. It is the most reliable space vehicle ever launched and has carried out the most number of launches. It is used for both state (national) and commerical (private company) launches.

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is one of the most iconic space vehicles ever created. Designed with the intention of being able to carry both a crew of astronauts to space and deliver and service payloads in near earth orbit it was an incredible piece of engineering.

It was retired on March 9th 2011. This was due to a number of reasons but one of them was that there had been two losses of space shuttles, 'Challenger' in January 28th 1986 and 'Columbia' in 1st February 2003. Both craft were lost due to totally different faults but illustrated the risks inherent in such a complicated piece of machinery. Ultimately NASA lost the support of the American congress due to the risks presented to the astronauts and the huge cost of the program.

SpaceX Dragon Capsule

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is the first privately constructed vehicle capable of delivering humans to space.

It is launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Itself a privately designed and constructed commercial rocket system.

SpaceX and NASA together launched a Dragon 2 capsule (the human variant) from Launch Complex 39A at 3:22 p.m. on Saturday, May 30 2020. It successfully docked the International Space Station at 10:16 a.m. on Sunday, May 31 2020.

Astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken were the first astronauts taken to space on a commercially constructed space launch system.