posted 04-02-2007 12:43 PM
Recently I spent a day at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex taking their Astronaut Training Experience (ATX) program. They put on a great day of activities highlighted by a simulated shuttle flight in a "nose-trainer" which is a mockup of an orbiter's front section and most of the switches and displays on the flight deck. We were treated like VIPs and never had to wait in line (it was jammed because of March break) plus we got into areas where the normal tours do not go, like the foot of Pad 39A and the press area near the famous countdown clock. We saw Atlantis in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) due to the hail damage (we did not get inside the VAB) and had lunch with an astronaut, who spoke well and answered our questions with enthusiasm then posed for photos with each of us in the Rocket Garden. The nose trainer (aka simulator) was an old fixed-base design but was still fascinating. There is no room in those things — you would not believe how crammed in you are, and of course we were not wearing bulky spacesuits. I could barely fit through the airlock section — how do they get in with huge backpacks?
Simulation details:
I was extremely fortunate in being allowed to pilot the simulation — it is a group of 12 people, only six go in the shuttle and the others work in mission control. No way was I going to do that! You basically follow a script for the simulation, but they gave us two surprise events and we had to react. For the first they failed the solid rocket boosters separation — we heard the sound but did not get the light confirming their release. I missed this until I had to blow off the external tank; when it detached and its light came on I saw the SRB SEP light was off so fired them manually — which turned out to be the right thing to do. I didn't know that, but I was in "push every button" mode as I knew this was a rare opportunity.
During the simulation the mission specialists get out and perform real experiments. The guys flying have no time to concentrate on that — you are too busy. There was some chemical thing they mixed wrong and created a smoking mess! I got ahead of others in the flight plan and closed the shuttle's cargo bay doors with both mission specialists still outside — effectively killing them! I apologized and someone else radioed that we had named a school after them.
From my position I could look behind and "outside" the orbiter's rear windows to see the cargo doors open and close — this was quite realistic. The images in front of me during launch were just sky and clouds, but apparently they don't see much looking straight up. The images of the space station during flight were fair, like computer graphics from 10 years ago. But the landing graphics were superb. The wussy commander decided to let the autopilot do the big S turns before landing otherwise he had no chance. Coming down you can make out the state of Florida, then the peninsula the Cape is on, then the giant VAB, Interstate 95, local roads and finally the landing strip.
The commander was behind the flight plan and arroyed into the Florida ground. Later I got to try the landing-only simulator and crashed into the strip which is considered good - only 20% of the participants manage to hit the runway — and no one lands the thing on their first try. Even experienced pilots find the Shuttle unique, it is said to handle like a flying house.
We also got to try the 1/6 gravity moonwalk trainer, it is very hard! You have to kind of hop and throw your hips to move at all, if you try and walk normally you just bounce up and down. This was very surprising - I had always assumed walking on the moon would be easy and require no training. Very eye opening!
Overall a great day and good value — highly recommended for any space enthusiast. And if you have kids interested in this stuff it would be a real treat for them.
posted 04-02-2007 12:43 PM
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