How long before NASA can use commercial space flight?

[IRobot]

You need systems that can allow the crew to manually pilot the vehicle in emergencies.

I was under the impression that there would be no flight yoke. How much control will the crew have? Just touch screens?

[erioladastra]

You need systems that can allow the crew to manually pilot the vehicle in emergencies.

I was under the impression that there would be no flight yoke. How much control will the crew have? Just touch screens?

They will be required to provide manual piloting for all phases of flight except for ascent.  How that is implemented is company specific.  I doubt anyone has touch screens (too hard to work in bumpy flight or zero g) but perhaps.

[beancounter]

You need systems that can allow the crew to manually pilot the vehicle in emergencies.

I was under the impression that there would be no flight yoke. How much control will the crew have? Just touch screens?

They will be required to provide manual piloting for all phases of flight except for ascent.  How that is implemented is company specific.  I doubt anyone has touch screens (too hard to work in bumpy flight or zero g) but perhaps.

It's not a 'requirement'.  Dragon has demonstrated total autonomy both up and downhill, with the exception of docking which was handled by the on-station crew.  Soyuz can do everything autonomously and has done so.
So, again, manual piloting is not a 'requirement' unless NASA astronauts need it to justify being pilots, just a 'nice to have'.

[joek]

It's not a 'requirement'.  Dragon has demonstrated total autonomy both up and downhill, with the exception of docking which was handled by the on-station crew.  Soyuz can do everything autonomously and has done so.
So, again, manual piloting is not a 'requirement' unless NASA astronauts need it to justify being pilots, just a 'nice to have'.

Soyuz also still has manual control capability.  They don't keep that simply because it is a "nice to have", or because cosmonats need it to justify a particular skill set.

[majormajor42]

How long before NASA can use commercial space flight to pay it way up into space with out going to Russia?

While that option may exist in a few years (2016?), NASA may send astronauts up on both a US commercial craft like Dragon and continue to send one on each Soyuz craft. A little added redundancy to maintain the American presence on ISS. Not yet clear if Russians will get a seat on each Dragon too.

[oldAtlas_Eguy]

You need systems that can allow the crew to manually pilot the vehicle in emergencies.

I was under the impression that there would be no flight yoke. How much control will the crew have? Just touch screens?

They will be required to provide manual piloting for all phases of flight except for ascent.  How that is implemented is company specific.  I doubt anyone has touch screens (too hard to work in bumpy flight or zero g) but perhaps.

Manual control is a little bit of a misnomer, it reffers to the source of steering commands of human via hand controlers vs a computer program. In both cases the computers are still involved since it is a fly-by wire system.