SpaceX to Reveal New Dragon Spacecraft on Thursday (VIDEO)

Elon Musk and SpaceX continue to make headlines. On Thursday night the CEO and founder of the private space company will reveal the new Dragon V2 Spaceship, which will hopefully soon carry astronauts into orbit.

The current Dragon space capsule is responsible for delivering cargo to the International Space Station during resupply missions that SpaceX conducts under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. Musk's design of the new Dragon V2 Spaceship aims to transport astronauts to and from the ISS and beyond, and also safely land the ship on Earth, and not at sea, which is what the current Dragon spacecraft is restricted to.

SpaceX is one of the beneficiaries of NASA's fiscal plan. The government agency allocated significant funds for SpaceX in 2011 to develop what they call "space taxis" that they want ready to go by 2017 or 2018. Money was also given to the Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. to develop the same type of spacecraft. 

As of now, the United States pays Russia about $70 million per seat to send astronauts to the International Space Station. The United Launch Alliance - responsible for national security-related launches - also purchases rocket engines from Russia. But because of the sanctions the Obama Administration placed on Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine, the nation's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced that they will no longer supply the United States with rocket engines if they are used for national security-related launches. They also plan to cease operations on the ISS by 2020.

As the Air Force looks for other options for rocket engines (they claim they already have a few), Elon Musk asserts that his company can conduct the national security-related launches. This would save American taxpayers over $1 billion per year because SpaceX makes their own engines. The company could soon become the biggest name is private space launches, as they're also updating their Falcon 9 and Grasshopper rockets. Musk is eager to reveal the new Dragon spacecraft.

"There are side-mounted thruster pods and quite big windows for astronauts to see out," Musk told SPACE.com about the new spacecraft. "There are also legs to pop out at the bottom. It looks like a real alien spaceship."

You can watch the live stream of the spacecraft's presentation at 7 p.m. here.