Crew Dragon is SpaceX's reusable capsule for flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
spacex-crew-dragon Crew Dragon is a reusable capsule built by SpaceX. Launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, it flies NASA and private astronauts to the International Space Station and back. It can seat up to seven people, but NASA missions carry up to four. On the return trip it comes down on parachutes and splashes down at sea.
The heat shield is made of blocks of PICA-X, which is carbon felt soaked in phenolic resin, a hard plastic. It is ablative, meaning it is designed to wear away as it heats up. The eight launch-escape engines have chambers 3D printed in Inconel, a high-performance superalloy.
Crew Dragon flies NASA and private astronauts to and from the International Space Station on Falcon 9. Its ablative heat shield and printed launch escape engines are the main materials stories.
The capsule carries the crew and pressurised cargo. Its nose cone opens once the capsule is in orbit and is stowed again before re-entry. There are three windows, and hatches at the front and in the side.
The trunk is Dragon's second main section, and it is not pressurised. One half holds a solar array that powers the spacecraft, the other a radiator that gets rid of heat. The launch escape fins are part of it as well.
The heat shield blocks are bonded to the structure, and the gaps between them are filled. The backshell, the cover over the rest of the capsule, is a light silicone foam that comes either moulded or as blocks. The foam is a proprietary SpaceX ablative material.
Draco thrusters near the base of the capsule handle manoeuvring in orbit. More sit under the nose cone, next to the guidance sensors. For emergencies during launch, eight SuperDraco engines are built into the side walls, and the launch escape system is armed before liftoff.
Six parachutes bring the capsule down. Two drogue parachutes open first, then four main ones. After splashdown, a recovery ship lifts the capsule out of the water with a crane and sets it on the main deck.
The heat shield, as blocks of carbon felt soaked in phenolic resin and bonded to the structure.
The backshell, in a light foam that is SpaceX's own ablative material.
The chambers of the eight SuperDraco launch-escape engines, which are 3D printed.
Crew Dragon launches on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is built on SpaceX's cargo Dragon, which the company designed with people in mind. For launch escape it uses SuperDraco engines, and for manoeuvring in orbit it uses Draco thrusters. NASA's Commercial Crew Program orders its flights to the station as crew rotation missions. The first crewed flight was Demo-2 in 2020.
orbital manoeuvring thrusters; not yet a catalog product
SpaceX designed its cargo Dragon with people in mind
crew-rotation flights to the International Space Station
SpaceX has not published what the pressure vessel, trunk, nose cone, tanks, parachutes or windows are made of. Materials are known only for the heat shield, the backshell and the escape-engine chambers, and the Inconel alloy is not named. Published counts of the Draco thrusters differ.
What is written above is built from these numbers and quotes. Each row links to the page it was taken from. Get all of it as JSON, or ask our MCP server.
| What | Value |
|---|---|
| Crew capacity | Up to seven passengers, four crew on NASA missions |
| Launch escape engines | Eight SuperDraco engines, 120,000 lb total axial thrust |
| SuperDraco thrust | 16,000 lb each |
| First crewed flight | Demo-2, 30 May to 2 August 2020 |
| Windows | Three |
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A |
| Cabin temperature range | 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Splashdown sites supported | seven |
| Launch abort total thrust | up to 120,000 lbf axial |
| Parachute count | six (two drogues and four mains) |
| Pressurised volume | 9.3 m3 (330 cu ft) |
Each material named in the sources: where it is used here, which other products use it, and its key numbers when its material page exists.
Used in 1 partSuperDraco engine chamber (eight engines)
Used in 1 partHeat shield
Used in 1 partBackshell
Only the heat shield, backshell and SuperDraco chambers have a stated material; the pressure vessel, trunk, tanks and nose cone are not stated. Components, suppliers and links were added from public sources. A material is left blank where no source states it.
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat shield“Carbon felt infiltrated with phenolic resin” | PICA-X (carbon felt infiltrated with phenolic resin)pica-x | — | SpaceX; NASA Ames lists it as PICA-SpaceX |
| Backshell“Light-weight silicone foam” | silicone syntactic foam (SpaceX proprietary ablative material)silicone-syntactic-foam | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| SuperDraco engine chamber (eight engines)“The chamber is regeneratively cooled and printed in Inconel, a high-performance superalloy” | Inconel (alloy not stated)inconel | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressurised sectioncarries crew and pressurised cargo“the capsule, which is designed to carry crew and critical, pressurized cargo” | Not said | — | — |
| Service sectionunpressurised part of the capsule that holds the Draco thrusters“subdivided into the pressurized section, the service section and the nose cone” | Not said | — | — |
| Nose coneprotects the forward end; opens once on orbit and is stowed before re-entry“the nose cone, which is opened once on orbit and stowed prior to re-entry” | Not said | — | — |
| Forward hatchforward access hatch“FORWARD HATCH” | Not said | — | — |
| Side hatchcrew entry hatch“SIDE HATCH” | Not said | — | — |
| Windows (three)give the crew views of Earth, the Moon and the solar system“Crew Dragon was designed with three windows” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trunk (unpressurised service module)mating interface to Falcon 9; jettisoned shortly before re-entry“the trunk, which is an unpressurized service module” | Not said | — | — |
| Trunk solar arraypowers Dragon on orbit“half of the trunk contains a solar array, which powers Dragon” | Not said | — | — |
| Trunk radiatorrejects heat on orbit“the other half contains a radiator, which rejects heat” | Not said | — | — |
| Launch escape finsfins on the trunk used in the abort configuration“LAUNCH ESCAPE FINS” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draco thrusters at the base of the capsuleorbital manoeuvring and attitude control“Near the base of the capsule, but outside the pressurized structure, are the Draco thrusters, which allow for orbital maneuvering.” | Not said | — | — |
| Draco thrusters under the nose coneadditional manoeuvring thrusters at the forward end“Additional Draco thrusters are housed under the nose cone” | Not said | — | — |
| Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) sensors under the nose conerelative navigation for rendezvous and docking“along with Dragon’s Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) sensors” | Not said | — | — |
| Propulsion pressurisationpressurises the Dragon propellant system before launch“Dragon prop pressurization” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| SuperDraco engines (x8)launch abort engines built into the capsule side walls“Crew Dragon features an advanced abort system with eight SuperDraco engines” | Not said | — | Supplier: SpaceX |
| Launch escape system (armed before launch)pulls the capsule away from the rocket on the pad and during ascent“Dragon launch escape system is armed” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drogue parachutesstabilise and slow the capsule after re-entry“re-enters Earth's atmosphere and deploys drogue parachutes” | Not said | — | — |
| Main parachutes (four)final descent under canopy“prior to unfurling the spacecraft’s four main parachutes” | Not said | — | — |
| Recovery ship with cranelifts the capsule from the water onto the deck“SpaceX’s recovery ship is equipped with a crane to lift the capsule out of the water and onto the main deck of the ship” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)air and temperature for the crew“Crew Dragon has an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)” | Not said | — | — |
| Crew displaysreal-time spacecraft status for the crew“Crew Dragon’s displays provide real-time information on the state of the spacecraft’s capabilities” | Not said | — | — |
| Crew seats (rotate before launch)seats for up to four NASA astronauts“Verify ready for seat rotation” | Not said | — | — |
| SpaceX spacesuitworn inside Crew Dragon; custom-made for each passenger“SpaceX designed its spacesuit for astronauts to wear inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft” | Not said | — | Supplier: SpaceX |
| Suit helmet (3D printed)integrated valves, visor mechanism and microphones“The helmet is custom manufactured using 3D printing technology” | Not said | — | — |
| Single suit connection point (thigh)air and power connection to the life support system“A single connection point on the suit’s thigh attaches life support systems, including air and power connections.” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autonomous flight controlspacecraft flies itself; monitored by crew and mission control“Crew Dragon is a fully autonomous spacecraft that can be monitored and controlled by onboard astronauts and SpaceX mission control” | Not said | — | — |
| Inertial measurement unit (IMU)navigation reference aligned before launch“Dragon IMU align and Configure for launch” | Not said | — | — |
| Internal power switchoverDragon runs on its own power from about five minutes before launch“Dragon transitions to internal power” | Not said | — | — |
| Autonomous docking systemdocks with the station without crew action“Crew Dragon performed a series of phasing maneuvers to gradually approach and autonomously dock with the station.” | Not said | — | — |
| Part | Material | Finish and standard | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crew access arm (LC-39A)bridge for crew entry that retracts before launch“Crew access arm retracts” | Not said | — | — |
No standards or grades. Pressure vessel, trunk structure, tank, window and parachute materials not found. More detail: SpaceX has not published a Crew Dragon bill of materials; the pressure vessel, trunk structure, propellant tanks, window glass, seats, parachute fabric, solar cells and radiator have no stated materials or suppliers in any readable source. Wikipedia says the propellant tanks are composite-overwrapped titanium spheres, but that was not confirmed from a primary page and is not listed. Draco thruster count differs by source and vehicle (Wikipedia: sixteen on Dragon 2; an older NASA kit for the first Dragon: eighteen), so the count is attached to the Wikipedia statement only. The NASA press kit is the Crew-2 edition and describes the Dragon in general terms. NASA's Dragon callout graphic gives labels only. SuperDraco quotes come from the 2014 qualification-test announcement as reposted by the National Space Society. Quotes from the NASA press kit and the NASA callout graphics were machine-checked against the PDF text; quotes from Wikipedia and nss.org came through a text extractor and were not machine-checked. More detail: SpaceX has not published a Crew Dragon bill of materials; the pressure vessel, trunk structure, propellant tanks, window glass, seats, parachute fabric, solar cells and radiator have no stated materials or suppliers in any readable source. Wikipedia says the propellant tanks are composite-overwrapped titanium spheres, but that was not confirmed from a primary page and is not listed. Draco thruster count differs by source and vehicle (Wikipedia: sixteen on Dragon 2; an older NASA kit for the first Dragon: eighteen), so the count is attached to the Wikipedia statement only. The NASA press kit is the Crew-2 edition and describes the Dragon in general terms. NASA's Dragon callout graphic gives labels only. SuperDraco quotes come from the 2014 qualification-test announcement as reposted by the National Space Society. Quotes from the NASA press kit and the NASA callout graphics were machine-checked against the PDF text; quotes from Wikipedia and nss.org came through a text extractor and were re-checked in a second fetch pass but not against a saved copy of the page.
Collected from public pages and documents, checked 4 Nov 2026.
