Man has always had a fascination with space. It is often dubbed “the last frontier.” But in the recent economic troubles of the world, space exploration has taken a back seat to more pressing matters. NASA scrapped its space shuttle program, but it seems the folks over at DragonX are keen on offering up its replacement. Dubbed the Dragon V2, SpaceX unveiled their latest design that they expect to deliver astronauts up to the international space station. After a dramatic curtain drop, employees, executives, and other VIPs gathered around the stage to check out the next step in space exploration evolution.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and founder of automaker Tesla, has stated that he hopes that this vesile won’t just stop at delivering people to the space station but take them to mars as well. He even hopped into the capsule to give everyone a touring. He showed off the cushioned seating arrangements, moving from one to another to explain each position. As Musk climbed from seat to seat he joked “That’s going to be a lot easier in zero-G, by the way.”
Elon told reporters that the cost for each astronaut was approximately $20 million apiece to bring them into space, or $140 million for all seven seats. SpaceX has already been delivering cargo to the international space station for the past two years, now it is trying to convince the world that is is ready to deliver people. Unmanned Dragon V2 test launches are expected to begin immediately and if all goes well, the first unmanned capsule will be launched by the end of 2015. Musk is confident that by 2016 they will be ready for their first manned test launch.
Source/Photos: SpaceX
