There are no people flying on the SpaceX Crew Dragon for Demo-1. After all, the mission’s primary objective is to perform an end-to-end demonstration of this new crew transportation system before astronauts climb aboard.
But the Crew Dragon isn’t empty, either. Ripley, an anthropomorphic test device, is a special “passenger” fitted with sensors around the head, neck and spine to record everything an astronaut would experience throughout the mission, such as the forces, acceleration, protection offered by Crew Dragon’s seats, and overall environment.
When the Demo-1 mission is complete, SpaceX will collect Ripley’s sensor data—valuable information that will help verify that Crew Dragon will provide astronauts a safe, comfortable and enjoyable ride to space.