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On EBay: Shuttle Flight Deck Simulator

An anonymous reader writes: "Just to pass time before taking the real trip. shuttle flight deck simulator" Not a real nasa simulator, but a very impressive operating replica. The construction details are quite interesting too.

9 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Not the only one by Burdell · · Score: 4, Informative
    Two of the Space Camp simulators in Huntsville, AL are fairly accurate recreations of the whole flight deck and mid deck of an orbiter (the panels are really only a small part of it). One of them (Atlantis) is from the movie "Space Camp" (don't ever watch it if you can help it). The other simulators in Huntsville are not as accurate (they are motion-based, and it is hard to build a two story motion-based simulator), but the panels are just about as accurate (although the relative placement isn't 100%).

    Basically, when he says "To my knowledge, there is not another like it in the world.", he may be right (to his knowledge, but then that just means that he is not very knowledgeable). There are other Space Camps around the US and the world (they are franchisees from the original in Huntsville) and at least some of them also have simulators.

  2. Did you see this guy's seller history by thelinuxking · · Score: 5, Informative

    He tried selling this thing a total of 4 times, each of which he recieved NO BIDS AT ALL! It took him 3 times to sell his Actual NASA Mission Control Console Computer. Here are his attempts to sell that: First: Wanted $199, no bids Second: Wanted $175, no bids Third: Sold that thing for $50 Chances are by the time he sells this, it will be around $1000...

  3. Re:What's with the pictures? by MrScience · · Score: 2, Informative

    Reading the front page of the site, would see the link titled, "List of components included in this auction"

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  4. Re:What's with the pictures? by k2enemy · · Score: 3, Informative

    it was explained quite clearly on the web page. there was even a link for "what is included in the auction". you get all of the panels, the mission timer, joysticks, some flight manuals + flipbooks, power supplies and software. you don't get the chair or any of the misc things in the picture.

  5. Re:Public Property? by captain_craptacular · · Score: 3, Informative

    Many grants come from private sources. My mother was a teacher and got a load of cool tech gadgets from a weather study grant once (digital cams, laptops, etc..) in the early 90's. The grant specifically stated that any materials/items bought with the grant were NOT to be given to the school system when the project completed. So she could keep them, sell them, eat them, whatever.

    --
    They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
  6. What's his game? by FreeLinux · · Score: 5, Informative

    What is this guy up to? When you look at the pictures and the price, it seems like a really cool simulator/mockup. But, digging a little deeper and looking at the list of items that are *actually* being auctioned off, there are a lot of things missing.

    Not included are a few panels, headphones, TV sets, *the actual framework* that all this mounts on. One wonders why. Basically all your getting for $15,000 is some very nice looking skins. They're non functional and a lot of assembly/construction will be required.

    But, what is he going to do with things like the framework? It sounds to me like he is dissatisfied with version 1.0 and is dumping the skins so that he can start version 2.0. Sorry pal, for $15,000 I expect the entire rig, as well as some support for putting it back together after shipping.

  7. Re:Landing The Shuttle by merlyn · · Score: 3, Informative

    Uh, www.orbitersim.com is no longer. Perhaps you wanna go back to the original site which a quick google search found.

  8. It's so easy to criticize... by whg409 · · Score: 2, Informative

    What a bunch of losers some of you are!

    I went to this school in the mid-90's, and participated in this program. Let me tell you, this was the coolest thing I'd ever done - and nothing I've done since comes close.

    We trained for five or six weeks, learning all the shuttle's systems and how they worked. We also trained in the simulator for several days, practicing the procedures over and over. We even landed the shuttle with some kind of computer sim.

    It makes me mad to see some of your criticism. It's easy to criticize someone else's efforts, but I don't imagine any of you ever began to accomplish something as impressive as this.

    If there were more dedicated teachers like this one, there would be a lot less of you jerks sitting in front of your computers all day in your momma's basement.

  9. From a guy that works on the Real(!) simulator by JetScootr · · Score: 4, Informative

    The simulator shown is incredibly authentic, but I think there are actually TWO such non-Nasa sims. I saw one about 15 years ago at a mall that was having a "air and space hobby" show.
    The sim shown is what we call "Pre-MEDS". MEDS was an update to the cockpit (Multifunction Electronic Display System) to update the shuttle to semi-modern "glass cockpit", that is, use computer monitors instead of actual gauges.
    Also, there were two original simulators used to develop procedures and do leading-edge-of-wing math modeling in the early 80's and I understood that those two simulators (real NASA sims!) were sold to private individuals or companies (as scrap, as far as Nasa was concerned). I may be wrong about that.
    PS: I've worked at Nasa's shuttle astronaut training center since 1979.

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