--- title: "Controlling SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is Like Playing A Video Game" description: "Once in orbit, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley briefly took manual control over the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft." date: "2020-06-01" modified: "2020-06-01" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/controlling-spacexs-crew-dragon-is-like-playing-a-video-game" categories: - "Crew Dragon" - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "crew dragon" - "nasa iss" - "SpaceX" - "the digest" --- # Controlling SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is Like Playing A Video Game ![Once in orbit, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley briefly took manual control over the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Assuming Control It was a spectacular sight: on Sunday, SpaceX became the first commercial entity to [safely deliver]() astronauts to the International Space Station. It's a new chapter in human spaceflight. And it's a future in which touchscreens and autonomous wayfinding lead the way — a far cry from the mazes of buttons, levers, and readouts we've seen in spacecraft cockpits preceding SpaceX's futuristic Crew Dragon capsule. https://youtu.be/Yl5bMlbVBHw ## Playing Games [Three large touchscreens]() form the center console of the spacecraft. Once in orbit, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley [briefly took control]() over the spacecraft using astonishingly video game-like touchscreen controls, with on-screen buttons for adjusting roll, pitch, and yaw. In fact, SpaceX claims its [recently released browser-based simulator]() is more or less the same experience. In a notice shown before loading the simulator, the company claims the game uses the "controls of the actual interface." ## Button Mash NASA [planned]() for the two astronauts to take control twice during its journey to the ISS: once while the spacecraft was coasting in orbit, and again when it was about a kilometer below the station. Most of the time, excluding the unlikely event of an emergency, Crew Dragon takes care of the navigating automatically. In fact, docking procedures with the space station were carried out autonomously on Sunday morning. **READ MORE:** [NASA astronauts successfully pilot SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft manually for the first time]() \[*TechCrunch*\] **More on the launch:** *[WATCH NASA ASTRONAUTS GIVE ZERO-G TOUR OF SPACEX’S NEW CAPSULE]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()