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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.
$14,999 and no bids! I can't ever think why!
Not a real nasa simulator, but a very impressive operating replica. The construction details are quite interesting too.
I'd hardly call that 'operating'. Did you actually LOOK at the construction details? Most of the knobs/switches and doo-dads aren't even connected to *anything*. I would at LEAST like some of the switches to turn on a light or make something buzz or whirr or SOMETHING. Especially for the list price of $15k.
GIR: I'm going to sing the Doom song now. Doom doom doom doom doom doom de-doom doom doom doom doom doom doom...
Did those others get Slashdot coverage? EBay is massive and his site isn't exactly easy to find, I don't think it's that there was nobody interested... more likely that nobody knew about it. Then again, $15,000 is a lot of money...
I'm guessing that would just make too much sense.
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Looking at these images it doesn't look like the switchs, buttons and toggles actually control anything. So it is more like a mockup with TV's and lots of switchs that don't do anything (other then maybe lightup). Hardly worth 15,000 dollars for something that just looks intersting but serves no actual function.
What's sad? This was constructed for a legitimate educational use. The sad thing is that a work of art like this is stuck in a storeroom somewhere, instead of being used and appreciated by another school, or a Science Museum somewhere.
A place like the Kansas Cosmosphere might be a btter place for this thing. A truly wonderful place, despite /.'s fear of Kansas.
Not the way most high school-level grants work. Most grants (even Federal ones) at this level are to the teacher, not the school. Included in the terms of the grant are that the property bought with the money goes with the teacher - not the school they were at the time. So, the school probably couldn't really have stopped him from taking it anyway.
Way to follow a link or two there, tough guy.
The auction page quite clearly states that he recieved a grant to build it for a public school that he teaches at. He did not just throw it together in his garage so he could play "make-believe." This simulator was used for 6 years in the school where the students ran 3-hour long missions and learned a thing or two about the space shuttle and space in general.
If I were a student at this school when I was a kid I would have been grateful in the extreme to be able to play around with a simulator of this quality. Who knows how many kids got to experience this sim along with a knowledgeable teacher and decided that they might be interested in persuing a space-related career?
Seems to me that the creator of this thing, a public school teacher, set out to influence the lives of his students in a positive way. Odds are very good that he succeeded. With the kind of attitude that you display, you will never be that lucky.
And the guy got a grant from the government to build it! He got paid for it! So just where is the 15 grand going? Will it go back to the taxpayers? I doubt it. Sounds to me like he's trying to line his pockets!