All aboard! Tour SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule
SpaceX hopes to one day transport astronauts to the space station and beyond in the Crew Dragon spacecraft. For now, aspiring astronauts will have to settle for a virtual tour of the capsule.
SpaceX fans, wannabe astronauts, and curious technophiles got a long-awaited glimpse inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft Thursday via a posted on YouTube by the private space company.
SpaceX's newest spacecraft will one day fly astronauts to the International Space Station and beyond, that is,聽if all goes according to billionaire founder Elon Musk's plan.
鈥淒ragon made history in 2012 when it became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the space station, a feat previously achieved only by governments,鈥� The SpaceX website reads, 鈥淏ut Dragon was also designed from the beginning to carry people, and today SpaceX is finalizing the necessary refinements to make that a reality.鈥�
Those refinements include safety and abort tests, manned trials, and the inevitable slew of design revisions, but also include the bells and whistles. In this latest unveiling, SpaceX aims to show they aren't cutting corners.
The interior features a classic white and black color scheme, with four prominent windows that will provide views of Earth, the moon, and the rest of the solar system, and a sleek, gleaming console that looks like something from the future.
The craft was designed for performance, but also intends to offer future passengers a luxurious ride.聽The environmental control allows astronauts to set the temperature to anything within 65 to 80 degrees, all while traveling through space and the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. If something catastrophic were to occur, the emergency escape system would carry astronauts to safety as they experience 鈥渁bout the same G-forces as a ride at Disneyland,鈥� according to the company website.
The control panel, the only splash of color, sits in the front of the capsule and offers a view of 鈥渢he state of the spacecraft鈥檚 capabilities 鈥� anything from Dragon鈥檚 position in space, to possible destinations, to the environment on board.鈥� The Crew Dragon is fully autonomous but can also be controlled by either the astronauts on board or technicians at SpaceX mission control on Earth.
The Crew Dragon will be put to the test with human passengers following a 2017 abort test and an unmanned test flight to the International Space Station, according to Space.com.