Commercial crew astronauts check Crew Dragon controls

Bob Behnken (Left) and Eric Boe (Right) Evaluating the controls
Credit: SpaceX

Astronauts that will be flying to the ISS in Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft visited SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, CA to evaluate the controls of the spacecraft. Bob Behnken and Eric Boe checked out the controls, seating and the crew compartment of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. They sat in a mockup of the cockpit and looked at the aspects of the layout of the displays and the ease of movement in the seats while using the control panel. SpaceX has designed their spacecraft to allow the crew to be comfortable for their ride to the ISS and build models like these to be tested to help determine the practicability of all the systems. Bob and Eric, along with Doug Hurley and Suni Williams have been traveling the country to evaluate the designs of both SpaceX's and Boeing's spacecrafts as the two companies work toward their first launches next year.