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The dragon ship is a partially reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company based in Hawthorne, California. Dragon was launched into space by the SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. During its uncrewed maiden flight in December 2010, Dragon became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. On 25 May 2012, an uncrewed variant of dragon ship became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and be attached to the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX was contracted to deliver cargo to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program, and began regular cargo flights in October 2012. Additionally, NASA awarded SpaceX a Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev 2)-funded space act agreement on April 2011, and a Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap)-funded space act agreement on August 2012. Dragon ship is planned to be able to carry up to seven astronauts, or a combination of personnel and cargo, to and from low Earth orbit. The spacecraft's heat shield is furthermore designed to withstand Earth re-entry velocities from potential Lunar and Martian spaceflights.