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Commercial Spaceships Are Like 'Driving an iPhone,' New Astronaut Says
Space.com ^ | August 3, 2018 03:18pm | Meghan Bartels,

Posted on 08/03/2018 1:32:26 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Nine astronauts have new travel plans aboard commercial space capsules, with their mission assignments announced earlier today (Aug. 3).

Five of those astronauts flew aboard the United States' last set of spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), the space shuttles. But while the newly announced crews are excited to once again launch from Florida instead of Kazakhstan, they aren't very nostalgic for the hardware of the shuttles themselves.

During the press announcement of the new astronaut assignments, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine asked two veteran astronauts to compare their new rides to the shuttles they flew more than seven years ago.

That vehicle, in Behnken's case, will be SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which he compared to the ultimate in smooth technology: Apple's handset. "It is absolutely like flying the iPhone," Behnken said.

Both of the new capsules come equipped with touch screens, and the astronauts' spacesuits include gloves that allow the spaceflyers to manipulate those screens smoothly. "It is also nice to not have all of the complications of switches and buttons, like we did in shuttle," Suni Williams, whose first mission was aboard the shuttle, wrote in a Reddit AMA. "The new flat screens will make it easier to interact [with] and control the spacecraft."

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: aerospace; elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; florida; iss; jimbridenstine; kazakhstan; nasa; spacex

1 posted on 08/03/2018 1:32:26 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Open the pod bay door Siri.


2 posted on 08/03/2018 1:35:07 PM PDT by Dagnabitt (Point at the Q Tards and Laugh!)
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To: BenLurkin

The software for the Space Shuttles was written in the late 70’s. It was already obsolete by the time they got to the launching pad.


3 posted on 08/03/2018 1:46:28 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: BenLurkin

Human input optional.

Eventually all our technology will be essentially autonomous. If we suddenly disappear as a biological species, our autonomous systems and avatars will carry on.

There Will Come Soft Rains


4 posted on 08/03/2018 1:47:28 PM PDT by JustaTech (A mind is a terrible thing)
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To: BenLurkin

I don’t think touchscreens would work terribly well given the amount of vibration in a launch, let alone wearing gloves. They probably don’t control anything during launch.


5 posted on 08/03/2018 1:55:32 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I have a friend who worked at Redstone and he helped write the code.


6 posted on 08/03/2018 1:55:42 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The ONLY purpose for gun control is so that one group can force its will on a less powerful group.)
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To: rktman

Ping.


7 posted on 08/03/2018 2:02:22 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: BenLurkin
Never used an iPhag phone, so I am SOL.

My wife may qualify, she uses one. Think it is a female thing.

8 posted on 08/03/2018 2:11:28 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (Give me the liberty to take care of my own security..........)
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To: BenLurkin

So they can be smashed to smithereens? Don’t get too near Hillary.


9 posted on 08/03/2018 2:11:47 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: Dagnabitt

“Madame Pompadour was a member of the French court and the official chief mistress of king Louis XV. Is there anything else I can help you with?”


10 posted on 08/03/2018 2:15:39 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

MY iPhone can fly as far as I can throw it.

It’s the landing that’s the problem.


11 posted on 08/03/2018 2:18:12 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses.)
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To: BenLurkin

Ass-tro-naught.


12 posted on 08/03/2018 2:28:16 PM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: Vince Ferrer

My thought is that touchscreens are a single point of failure during trouble. At least buttons and switches have a fair amount of independent circuitry, you can repair or bypass independently.


13 posted on 08/03/2018 2:41:43 PM PDT by catbertz
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To: BenLurkin
crews are excited to once again launch from Florida instead of Kazakhstan

Not happy:


14 posted on 08/03/2018 2:42:44 PM PDT by Slyfox (Not my circus, not my monkeys)
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To: BenLurkin

Nice one!


15 posted on 08/03/2018 3:08:18 PM PDT by Dagnabitt (Point at the Q Tards and Laugh!)
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To: Vince Ferrer

In Soyuz, the commander uses a stick to push the buttons.


16 posted on 08/03/2018 3:10:13 PM PDT by Dagnabitt (Point at the Q Tards and Laugh!)
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To: catbertz

It would be smart to have a couple spares for redundancy in case screens get damaged.


17 posted on 08/03/2018 3:45:30 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
The software for the Space Shuttles was written in the late 70’s. It was already obsolete by the time they got to the launching pad.

That's one of the huge advantages these commercial outfits have over NASA. They don't have to go through the cumbersome and glacially slow federal procurement process with all it's arcane rules, or deal with bids and the inevitable protests and court battles from companies that lose.

Basically Elon Musk or whoever says, "I want a glass cockpit with the latest and greatest software." and somebody immediately runs out and hires the best engineers and programmers to make it happen.

18 posted on 08/03/2018 3:49:55 PM PDT by apillar
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To: BenLurkin

Technology is terrific, when it works.


19 posted on 08/03/2018 4:28:29 PM PDT by Williams (Stop tolerating the intolerant.)
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To: BenLurkin

Wait until the circuit to those touch-screens fails. With no manual controls it won’t be fun.


20 posted on 08/03/2018 4:49:46 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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