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Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
When you drive, the second most important thing you should keep your eyes on is the dashboard of your car (the first thing being the road). In space, however, it’s the controls that are the most essential for navigating and operating your spacecraft. From Gagarin to Scott Kelly, here’s a brief visual history of the human-spacecraft interface.
If we look at all the main instrument panels humankind has designed and built during the past 55 years, we can see how the display and control system of spacecraft have become more complex and sophisticated and back again. The following set of images will place you in front of dozens of analog and digital instruments, displays, hand controllers, pedals, levers and switches that astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts have used over the years, and what they will use moving forward. 
Consider the Space Shuttle, which had nearly two thousand switches and controls; a far cry from the Vostok-1 control board and display, which had only about 25 switches and controls for cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin to use on his historic flight (see the second photo below).
Now, the age of touch screens and ever-smarter software is clearing up the spacecraft flight deck.

Vostok, 1960-1963, Voskhod, 1964-1965 spacecraft

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: AP
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Screencap: Andrew Bodrov/360cities
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: собственная работа/Wikimedia Commons

Mercury spacecraft’s instruments and controls, 1961

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA

The North American X-15 spaceplane, 1960s

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: USAF/NASA DFRC
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: U.S. Air Force

Gemini spacecraft’s displays and controls, 1965

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA

Soyuz (1967–)

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Charles Simonyi
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: GTCT
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Bill Ingalls/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: S. Corvaja/ESA

Apollo Lunar Module, 1968-1972

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Mark Avino, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Apollo Command Module, 1968-1973

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA

Space Shuttle Columbia cockpit, 1980 and 1998

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA

Buran, 1984-1988

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Toekneesan
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: pilot_micha

Space Shuttle Atlantis’ new full-color flat panel Multifunction Electronic Display Subsystem (MEDS), also called the “glass cockpit”, 1999. 

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA

SpaceShipOne, 2003

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Jim Campbell/AP
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Screencap: Lightspeed Media LLC/SNASM

China’s Shenzhou spacecraft, 2008

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: AP/Xinhua
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Xinhua/Qin Xian’an

Space Shuttle Discovery, 2011

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Kim Shiflett/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Ken Thornsley/NASA

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser, 2013

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Ken Ulbrich/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: David C. Bowman/NASA

SpaceX Crew Dragon dashboard, 2014

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: SpaceX
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: SpaceX
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: SpaceX

NASA Orion Spacecraft cockpit, 2014

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Radislav Sinyak/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Robert Markowitz/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: NASA

SpaceX Crew Dragon dashboard as of June 11, 2015

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: SpaceX
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: SpaceX/SpaceX

Russia’s Federation spacecraft, Roscosmos’ next generation Soyuz-TMA replacement, 2015.

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Andrey Stanovov/Roscosmos
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Andrey Stanovov/Roscosmos
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Andrey Stanovov/Roscosmos

Boeing CST-100 Starliner, 2015.

Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Robert Markowitz/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Bill Stafford/NASA
Here's How Spacecraft Dashboards Evolved, and Where They're Headed 
Image: Boeing/NASA

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