Magic Dragon Space Capsule

We have found some details on the UK's first commercially designed and built manned space capsule that was delivered to Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2005, but never flew. SpaceX had grand plans to launch it on top of its Falcon 5 rocket.

Up to this point, this has been a rather secret operation and no actual pictures were ever seen of this smaller capsule, referred to as the Magic Dragon. The MD was to designed for a three-day journey to take crew or cargo to the International Space Station and also act as an ISS emergency return vehicle. Since 2005, SpaceX has replaced its Falcon 5 rocket with the Falcon 9.

As you can imagine, the designer, Andy Elson, ran into some difficulties when it came down to getting dimensions for the ISS common berthing module (CBM) as it is not exactly information NASA is just putting on a ISS informational pamphlet or in History Channel documentary. Also, another reason it never got off the ground is because SpaceX decided it wanted a seven person capacity capsule rather than the MD's three person capacity.

The MD has been redesigned, as you can see below, and now has the desired seven person capacity. After a couple test flights in 2009, it is scheduled for launch and docking with the ISS in 2010. Also, it is just referred to as the "Dragon" now. Don't screw it up.


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