Students—particularly those who love trying new, STEM-related activities—might be looking for some new things to try at home by this point in time. Well, if they do, in fact, like STEM, there’s a great tool they can try right from the computer. SpaceX has created a docking simulation tool that anybody can use to practice their landing skills right from their home. If your kids have ever wondered what it might be like to help control the landing of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon at the Space Station or back here on Earth, this is the time to find out! Head to the simulator to get started.
Fair warning, successfully docking the Crew Dragon is 100 percent harder than it looks, but an exciting and eye-opening challenge for students nonetheless. For any student interested in space or STEM in general, this tool can help them see firsthand just how precise astronauts and engineers need to be all the time. So, while they might never get to pilot an actual spaceship, this simulator gives anyone who wants to the chance to experience the next best thing.
According to the SpaceX team, the rocket design and manufacturing company founded by Elon Musk, the simulator offers an experience that is very close to the real thing. The simulator makes use of the Crew Dragon model, a ship that is scheduled for a test flight on May 27. When using the simulator, students can start to get familiar with the controls of the actual interface used by NASA astronauts and manually pilot the spacecraft.
Within the simulation, users are shown all sorts of information that NASA team members and engineers have to constantly be aware of and monitor during a space flight. These include things like distance, roll, pitch, and any corrections to the route that might become necessary. The numbers on the screen help users determine whether or not they’ve docked the spacecraft successfully with all final numbers needing to come in below 0.2—displaying the precision with which the Crew Dragon needs to be landed.
It requires a great deal of accuracy and attention to detail to pilot and land a space vehicle—as you might imagine, but the astronauts involved with the actual Crew Dragon might not even have to do any of the work. That’s because the vehicle is equipped with autonomous docking and undocking technology to help it easily take off and land. The crew can, however, also perform these operations manually if the situation calls for it.
The Crew Dragon’s first mission is a test flight that is scheduled for May 27 and, if it’s successful, four astronauts will be boarding the Crew Dragon and heading to the Space Station in the coming months. If students would like to give the simulator a try or learn more about it, the program can be found here. Feel free to share any experiences you have with attempting to land or successfully landing the ship with us—tag us, SpaceX, and NASA on Twitter or Instagram and be sure to follow us as well!