Could NASA print the manual in color to improve usability? He admitted that NASA might have to buy color printers, but wouldn’t it be worth it? NASA printed the procedure guide in black and white. NASA’s space shuttle could have done with an upgraded instruction manual.

“There was no budget to do all the testing, we can’t possibly do anything that complicated!” “That immediately got shot down,” he says. That way, instead of identifying the fault and flicking to the correct page, the tablet could locate the relevant issue and display the proper instructions. His improved method would use a tablet computer hooked up to the vehicle’s telemetry string. These procedures used a physical paper guide, so astronauts had to flick to the correct page, identify the fault, and follow the instructions. Reisman’s job was to develop a new way of doing procedures in case of, say, engine failure. Want to know more about Crew Dragon’s inception, SpaceX’s surprising spacesuits, and why failure was “not an option” for the Elon Musk-led company? Read the full interview with Garrett Reisman, only in MUSK READS+. NASA had a shuttle cockpit avionics upgrade program to tweak the vehicle’s information displays - but even then, the team was extremely limited. This cultural difference is perhaps best exemplified by Reisman’s experience of trying to get a change to the space shuttle. “ we would make a decision in a single meeting that would take years to reach the same decision point at NASA,” he says. Speaking with Inverse, Reisman explains that the two organizations are worlds apart when it comes to getting things done - where SpaceX likes to move fast and adjust on the go, NASA is far more cautious in its decision-making. In 2011 he joined SpaceX, where he helped develop the human-carrying Crew Dragon capsule that flew on the Inspiration4 mission. At NASA, he flew on three space shuttles across two trips to the International Space Station, one in 2008 (where Reisman arrived and returned on different shuttles) and one in 2010. Garrett Reisman is someone with experience in two radically different space organizations. Can an astronaut tweak their own rocket? Yes, but it depends on who made it.

Garrett reisman