Space-X is testing crew capsule - Curt Lewis video

Watch SpaceX's new crew capsule pass a five-second hover test

This past week, SpaceX released a video of its Dragon 2 spacecraft successfully performing a five-second hover test at the company's rocket facility in McGregor, Texas. This was another milestone for the company as it works toward completing NASA certification of the new spacecraft, which will replace the existing version of Dragon. 

SpaceX has been sending supplies to the International Space Station using the original Dragon capsule for a few years now, and the company just recently won a new contract to extend that business into the 2020s. But Elon Musk's space company also won a contract from NASA to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, which meant building a new version that was capable of supporting a crew.

Though the video was published this week, the test was performed back in November. It shows a Dragon 2 hanging above one of the company's launchpads, and when the engines fire, the spacecraft briefly hovers under its own power. The company wants to eventually use these engines to land the spacecraft on solid ground following reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.

The video gives us a glimpse of how that might look, with eight "SuperDraco" engines firing on the sides of the capsule. Together, those generate a total of 33,000 pounds of thrust. These are the same engines that can eject the Dragon 2 capsule away from the launchpad if there's an emergency during liftoff. (SpaceX tested this in May of last year.)