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I agree and would add that we’ve gotten very used to touchscreens on our very multi-purposed phones and tablets. Navigation is a fairly fixed function. I doubt

I agree and would add that we’ve gotten very used to touchscreens on our very multi-purposed phones and tablets. Navigation is a fairly fixed function. I doubt these astronauts are going to installing new apps on their way to orbit... Interestingly offshore sailboat racers (IMOCA 60 class for instance) prefer keyboards and thumb ball mice. They’re not pulling g’s, but they experience some pretty extreme motion from waves.

dahfizz 6y ago
Not all navigation is created equal. When navigating in a car or boat, you need to be able to look ahead and pay attention. Therefore physical control are better because you can use them without looking at them. That's not the case in a space ship. Additionally, piloting a space craft is infinitely more complicated. Just take a look at the Apollo 11 control module[1]. I think having a single place where you receive all your information and react to it is way better than having to memorize the location and function of thousands of physical elements. [1] https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/apollo-11-3.png https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/apollo-11-3....