User login
Navigation
UK Space Links
- Airborne Engineering
- AspireSpace
- ASTRA
- AstroEngine.com
- Bright Ascension Ltd. new
- Bristol Spaceplanes
- Britain in Space
- British Interplanetary Society
- British Reaction Research
- BSTC Rocket Support Group
- Cambridge University Spaceflight
- Celestial Mechanics
- Centre for Future Air-Space Transportation Technology (cFASST) new
- ESERO-UK
- Excalibur Almaz Observer
- Institute for Interstellar Studies (I4IS)
- International Space Propulsion (ISP) Group
- ISIC
- JBIS new
- LESEDS
- Mars Society UK
- National Space Centre
- Orbiting Frog
- OurSpace
- Project Icarus
- Purley Amateur Rocketry Society
- RAeS Space Links
- RAL Space
- Reaction Engines Ltd.
- Reaction for ME new
- Rocket Corner
- Space.co.uk
- Space Answers/All About Space
- Spaceboosters
- Space Entrepreneurs UK new
- Space Kate | On a mission
- Space Newsfeed (Microcom Systems)
- Space Now
- SpacePod (RAL)
- Space Research Centre, Leicester
- SSTL Space Blog
- Starchaser Ltd.
- Stellardyne
- Stellar Engines Ltd. new
- Stuart Clark
- Tranquility Aerospace
- Uchusen Companynew
- UK Astronomers
- UK Centre for Astrobiology
- UK High Altitude Society
- United Kingdom Rocketry Association
- UK Rocket Man
- UKSEDS
- UK Space Directory
- Virgin Galactic
- YuriGagarin50
A UK manned space capsule [UPDATED!]
Rocketeer — Tue, 08/04/2008 - 10:53pm
No, really...
The photo at right is a full-scale testbed (somewhere between a mockup and an engineering test model) of a manned orbital space capsule, built in the UK by Andy Elson around 2005 for a US corporate customer in the NewSpace industry (I know who, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to say...). It had hammock-type acceleration couches for five crew, crew interface systems and a working life-support system with 30-man-day capacity.
Elson has considerable experience of engineering for high-altitude manned systems, having worked on a number of record-breaking balloon flights, and the GKN Mission Everest parajet flight over Mount Everest.
UPDATE: Thanks to Rob Coppinger of Flight Global for following up on this. The spacecraft is called Magic Dragon, and was built as a demonstrator for SpaceX prior to its involvement in the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme. The capsule was designed to be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 5. SpaceX has since moved on to its more powerful Falcon 9 rocket and its updated capsule design, Dragon. The photo shows Magic Dragon prior to its shipment to the SpaceX facility at El Segundo, California in 2005.
Search

Subscribe to the Rocketeers Twitter feed for instant updates!
SE UK

Space Entrepreneurs UK
For UK Space Entrepreneurs, Engineers & Investors
BNSC Review comments
My comments on the BNSC Space Exploration Review (31 Jan 2009)
New British Space Age
Alt.Space News
- 68th Annual General Meeting
- The Lonely Universe, Part Three: Childhood’s End – Is It Just the Beginning?
- Hubble Peers Through a Spacetime Magnifying Glass
- New California bill to limit liability for space tourism hardware builders and suppliers
- Rocket flight in Mojave airspace Tuesday + NewSpace taking over + Dave Mackay interview
- NASA and Bigelow Aerospace to hold briefing on study of commercial deep space exploration
- NASA Builds Unusual Testbed for Analyzing X-ray Navigation Technologies
- Station Trio Busy Inside Station, New Trio Prepares for Launch
- NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Drills Second Rock Target
- Science fiction film "Newcomers" to use XCOR Lynx
- Georgia spaceport's "limitless possibilities" + Florida commercial spaceport's jobs vs rattlesnakes
- NASA requests proposals for commercial use of Pad 39A
- Germany hears about NewSpace and NSG
- Skybox Imaging partnering with MapBox and Japan Space Imaging
- "Welcome to the Real Space Age"








Recent comments
9 weeks 6 days ago
9 weeks 6 days ago
14 weeks 6 days ago
31 weeks 4 hours ago
49 weeks 3 days ago
49 weeks 5 days ago
1 year 17 weeks ago
1 year 18 weeks ago
1 year 20 weeks ago
1 year 21 weeks ago