Cargo Dragon
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Cargo Dragon is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a crewed craft or station, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 6,788 triangles in a 46 kB glTF file, and is 8.1 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Height with trunk | 8.1 m |
| Diameter | 4 m |
| Trunk diameter | 3.7 m |
SpaceX, spacex.com/vehicles/dragon (the page is drawn by script; its data file spacex.com/3850.6a270eb20a4c2080.js was opened 2026-10-13): 'Height' '8.1m' '/ 26.7 ft', 'Diameter' '4 m' '/ 13 ft', 'The Dragon spacecraft is equipped with 16 Draco thrusters', 'One half of the trunk is covered in solar panels'. SPACEX DISAGREES WITH ITSELF: its Falcon 9 page's data file (spacex.com/2343.25ddd7bb77e7b318.js, opened the same day) gives Dragon 'Diameter' '3.7 m' '/ 12 ft'; read here as 4 m at the capsule's base and 3.7 m for the trunk, which neither sentence says. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Dragon_2, infobox, opened 2026-10-13: '4.5 m capsule only', '8.1 m capsule with trunk', diameter '4 m', width '3.7 m'; and 'The spacecraft's nose cone protects the docking port and four forward-facing thrusters during ascent and reentry. This component pivots open for in-space operations.'; 'eight SuperDraco engines arranged in four redundant pairs'. NO NASA PAGE WITH DIMENSIONS WAS FOUND. NOT CITED: the sidewall's 15 degrees (published for the first Dragon only; kept), the nose cone's 1.05 m, how the 8.1 m is shared (3.7 m of trunk is built, 4.4 m of capsule with its nose closed), the fins' size, where the Draco ports sit. WHAT THE CARGO VEHICLE LACKS: everydayastronaut.com/crs-21-falcon-9-block-5, opened 2026-10-13: 'Cargo Dragon 2's trunk has 2 fins, while Crew Dragon's has 4.'; spaceexplored.com/2020/12/04/crs-21-spacex-dragon-2-embarking-on…, opened 2026-10-13: 'the only noticeable difference is the smooth outer hull of the capsule. Missing are the SuperDraco thrusters'; Wikipedia (the page above): 'It lacks the control panels, life support, windows, and seats of the Crew Dragon.' (read 2026-10-13)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and NASA photographs of the Cargo Dragon.
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh
Where the map uses it. any record on the stations layer whose name has the words DRAGON CRS (none is in orbit on 2026-10-13; the last flew as a cargo Dragon): SpaceX's Cargo Dragon 2. It was, and while this file is on its way still is, the procedural cargo Dragon (scene/models.js `dragon-cargo`: a cone on a drum); public #937 names the crew vehicle and this is its sibling
Licence note. Public domain (the NASA photographs it was compared with); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence. NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh: the craft's maker's marks, NASA's insignia and the flag the photographs show are not drawn
References 2
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft departs from the International Space Station (iss074e0723944)NASA Johnson Space CenterPublic domain (NASA Johnson Space Center)
- A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft approaches the International Space Station (iss074e0590552)NASA Johnson Space CenterPublic domain (NASA Johnson Space Center)
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Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Cargo Dragon 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=dragon-cargo" title="Cargo Dragon, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.