Doug is a SpaceX dual-purpose support vessel based at Port Canaveral, Florida. Alongside its identical twin ship, Bob, both vessels are designed for both fairing and booster recovery operations. Doug is named after Doug Hurley, one of the first two NASA astronauts to fly on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule during the Demo-2 mission.

Doug was converted from a former platform supply ship – a type of mini cargo ship designed to serve offshore platforms – between May and August 2021 in Louisiana. Doug was retrofitted with a winch, enabling it to tow SpaceX droneships. The vessel is also capable of recovering and storing four Falcon fairing halves on deck, utilizing a large crane. A fast boat (either Maverick or Goose) is deployable from the vessel to support recovery operations.

The design of Bob and Doug’s fairing recovery crane system was likely influenced by the vessel Shelia Bordelon, which SpaceX chartered for a few months in early 2021. Shelia Bordelon was equipped with a large crane that proved effective in hooking and lifting Falcon fairing halves from the water. This marked a shift in SpaceX’s fairing recovery strategy. Prior to this, SpaceX had pursued a “catching” solution, attempting to steer recovery vessels like Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief underneath falling fairing halves to catch them with a giant net before they hit the water. However, this catching method ultimately proved unreliable, and SpaceX abandoned it in early 2021 in favor of the more consistent “wet recovery” method used by Bob and Doug.