SpaceX just let people crawl into its new spaceship for NASA astronauts - here's what it's like inside

Dave MosherAug 14, 2018, 03:22 IST

The spacesuit and Crew Dragon spaceship that SpaceX will use to launch NASA astronauts into space.SpaceX

SpaceX allowed a few reporters into its Hawthorne, California headquarters on Monday for close-up looks at a new spaceship and spacesuit for NASA astronauts.

The aerospace company, founded by tech mogul Elon Musk, built its Crew Dragon hardware as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Boeing also designed a new seven-person space capsule for NASA called the CST-100 Starliner.

NASA launched the multibillion-dollar program in 2010 to replace the space shuttle, which the agency retired in July 2011, with privately developed American spacecraft - and stop paying Russia increasing prices to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Crewed test launches of the two spaceships are slated for 2019. However, SpaceX is poised to send the first commercial astronauts into space (in February), given that Boeing must fix leaky fuel valves on the CST-100 Starliner.

Some who attended SpaceX's event took video and photos of Crew Dragon's mock-ups, the flight simulator that astronauts use to train, and the spacesuit, and then shared them on Twitter and Instagram.

Here's a sample of some of the best footage and pictures, and what journalists said it was like inside:

See SpaceX just let people crawl into its new spaceship for NASA astronauts - here's what it's like inside >>

Journalists not only got to meet the two astronaut crews at SpaceX, but also look at the actual spaceship hardware being built to fly them into orbit.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley (left and center-left) answer media questions in front of the Crew Dragon spacecraft they will fly on the Demo-2 crew test flight next year. pic.twitter.com/E2MzhqYa6j

— Stephen Clark (@StephenClark1) August 13, 2018

SpaceX's first of two crewed test flights of the spaceship is slated for February 2019. The ship will ride into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket with veterans Robert Behnken and Doug "Chunky" Hurley.

Source: Business Insider

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

SpaceX just let people crawl into its new spaceship for NASA astronauts - here's what it's like inside

Journalists not only got to meet the two astronaut crews at SpaceX, but also look at the actual spaceship hardware being built to fly them into orbit.

SpaceX's first of two crewed test flights of the spaceship is slated for February 2019. The ship will ride into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket with veterans Robert Behnken and Doug "Chunky" Hurley.

NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins will fly the second crewed test mission later that year.