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The Dragon spacecraft is receiving development grants from Nasa, as part of the commercial crew development programme. Dragon is launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, also built by SpaceX, unlike most of its competitors, which will initially use the Atlas 5. Although current operation calls for a water landing, SpaceX intends to develop a thruster system that would eventually allow Dragon to make a soft touch-down on land.
*Total funding given in round two of Nasa's Commercial Crew Development programme (CCDev). SpaceX has also received funding from Nasa under the COTS programme.
Space shuttle makes final landing
Drones bounce back from collisions