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Touring NASA's Space Shuttle Cockpit Trainer
An anonymous reader writes: Now that the space shuttles have been retired, NASA has been shutting down and cleaning out all of the equipment dedicated to keeping them in service. One such tool was the Crew Compartment Trainer II, a full-size replica of a space shuttle cockpit. Astronauts trained on it to become familiar with the operation of many onboard systems. Just before it was removed, Ars got a chance to tour it, and took a ton of pictures in the process. Quoting: "The forward windows are surprisingly small, and visibility dead ahead is limited to a very narrow section of the window. Both the pilot and commander have fighter-style HUDs (heads-up displays), which are used mainly during landing to keep them lined up and on target with the runway. ... Bloomfield walked me through a few procedures, and it was fascinating how complex the shuttles were in some areas and how primitive they were in others. The on-board computers of course received numerous updates throughout the vehicles' lives, but even in their final iteration they wouldn't have won any speed awards."
But I believe one day one of the shuttles will fly one more time.
Maybe public or private, many decades from now.
Secret technology aside, wouldn't it make a great toy?
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
The original analog flight decks of the first shuttles before refit were WAY cooler.
Computer screens... BAH!!!
Barely scratched the surface of the potential of the space shuttles capabilities.
Are they touring the Space Shuttle Cock? Really?
Ars will get a million hits over this, like it's some kind of new.
We saw all this stuff published in the 80's, you couldn't actually sit in it, but pictures everywhere.
You could buy the shuttle flight manuals from the NASA.
If you read the article and find yourself thinking, "I wish I could see that in person," then you need to visit the National Museum of the USAF, which has CCT-1: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.m...
I work at JSC. The SAIL (Shuttle Avionics Integration Labratory) is in my building and it hasn't been used in 4 years... SAIL is a full-sized mock-up of the space shuttle payload. They used to use it for replicating problems on board and then crafting a solution to tell the astronauts up there.
As far as I know, it's not going anywhere even though it's a museum at this point. Space Center Houston includes the site in some of their tram tours from the museum to JSC; I suppose the money for this is the only thing keeping it from being replaced with something useful.
But the space on the floor of the ISS mockup? No tours go there. Heck, not all badges go there (I can't get in). That area is all business.
If you are at all engineering minded, you will be completely blown away by it. I was rendered completely speechless for 30 seconds, and I saw people with tears in their eyes - I knew who the engineers were in the group. Even then, it's a glorius exhibit for all.
Do not miss this, just don't
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
My memory of Apollo 1 was that the fire had to do with teflon and not velcro. Am I mistaken?
FTA "In spite of how it burned in the Apollo 1 fire, velcro isn’t a significant fire hazard. The space shuttle kept its cabin pressurized to an Earth-normal 14.7 psia with a mix of about 80 percent nitrogen and 20 percent oxygen, and under those conditions velcro is not flammable"
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
It's too bad they're taking the Cockpit Trainer away. It was, in fact, available for public tour for several years now on the more expensive tour. The amount or wiring in the trainer (same as the shuttles themselves) is staggering. The trainer had much of the internal wiring exposed the two times I toured it.