SpaceX Photos Tease Manned Dragon Spaceship Ahead of Big Reveal (Images)

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SpaceX Dragon V2 Preview Image - Control Panel
The unveiling of Dragon V2 takes place on May 29, 2014. SpaceX will webcast the event directly from their state-of-the-art design and manufacturing facility in Hawthorne, California. (Image credit: SpaceX (via Twitter as @SpaceX))

Editor's Update (1 a.m, May 30 EDT): SpaceX has stylishly unveiled its new Dragon Version 2 manned spacecraft. See our full story, photos and video here: SpaceX Unveils Dragon V2 Spaceship, a Manned Space Taxi for Astronauts

The anticipation just got higher for the big unveiling tonight (May 29) of the first-ever manned Dragon spaceship by the private spaceflight company SpaceX, with two new photos offering tantalizing glimpses inside the spacecraft.

The new SpaceX Dragon photos reveal what appear to be close-up views of a capsule control panel and one of the vehicle's seven seats for future astronaut missions. SpaceX posted the photos to its main webcast page ahead of the 10 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. PDT (0200 GMT) debut of its manned Dragon craft. 

You can watch the SpaceX Dragon unveiling live on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX’s webcast, which will be streamed live on the company’s website. [Quiz: Do You Know SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft]

Dragon V2 – SpaceX’s next generation spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to space. The unveiling will take place on May 29, 2014. (Image credit: SpaceX (via Twitter as @SpaceX))

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hinted at tonight's major Dragon reveal on April 29 in Twitter posts announcing the manned spacecraft's unveiling. Since then, the company's latest unmanned Dragon capsule returned from space after a month-long voyage to the International Space Station. It was SpaceX's third of 12 unmanned Dragon cargo delivery flights to the station for NASA under a $1.6 billion contract. 

SpaceX hopes its manned Dragon V2 spacecraft, called the Dragon Version 2, or Dragon V2, will fly NASA astronauts on roundtrips to the space station and restore the human spaceflight capability of the United States. NASA's 30-year space shuttle program retired in 2011, leaving the agency depending on Russia's three-man Soyuz capsules as the only way to launch American astronauts into space.

The Dragon Version 2 space capsule resembles SpaceX's unmanned spacecraft, but is designed to ferry a maximum crew of seven astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. Like the unmanned version, Dragon V2 will launch into space atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets. But the manned capsule is also equipped with SpaceX's new SuperDraco thrusters, which serve as an emergency escape system to pull the capsule free from the Falcon 9 in the event of a major malfunction. SpaceX hopes the thrusters can also be used to cushion landings on the ground in the future.

Musk will unveil the Dragon V2 spacecraft tonight during an invite-only event at the company's Hawthorne, California, rocket factory. Musk founded the company in 2002 with the goal of lowering the cost of spaceflight with more affordable, reusable rockets. Since then, Musk has repeatedly said his long-term goal is to see humanity colonize Mars and become a multi-planet species.

Visit Space.com at 10 p.m. EDT for live coverage of Dragon unveiling, or follow it live via SpaceX here: http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.