SpaceX unveils its new space capsule `Dragon V2`

Zee Media Bureau

Los Angeles: California-based company SpaceX on Thursday unveiled its new gorgeous spacecraft, `Dragon V2` at its headquarters amid glitz and glamour. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced the next-generation space capsule designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, an ability currently limited to Russia. The Dragon V2 “is really a big leap forward in technology,” said Elon Musk in Hawthorne, California where the new model was shown to a jam-packed press conference. The new spacecraft can accommodate seven astronauts and has a number of new features. The white Dragon V2 looks like a slimmer, sleeker version of the gumdrop-shaped Dragon capsule, that in 2012 became the first private spacecraft to carry supplies to the ISS. According to Musk, the spaceship will be able to “land anywhere on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter.” SpaceX hopes its crew capsule will be able to reach the ISS with astronauts aboard by 2017. The company is reportedly said to be working on an even more powerful launch vehicle nicknamed BFR, which could be seen as the “Big Falcon Rocket.” With Agency Inputs Photo credit: SpaceX