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Author
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Topic: Museums with climb-in Apollo command module?
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dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 02-06-2011 08:15 AM
  
Are there any museums that have capsule recreations that you can climb into? I've always wanted to know what it felt like. What are others impressions of having done this? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-06-2011 08:44 AM
The Kansas Cosmosphere has a climb-in command module, originally built for the miniseries based on James Michener's SPACE, as part of their camp experience.  The U.S. Space & Rocket Center also has (or had, I'm not sure if its still on display) climb-in command module as well. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-06-2011 10:29 AM
I seem to recall the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex having a climb in CM and Mercury capsule in the rocket garden, although I think they were pretty lo-fi (probably to cope with being out in the elements). |
randy
Member Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-06-2011 01:30 PM
I had the privelege of sitting in the commanders seat in the CM simulator ('The great train wreck') at JSC in 1974. I remember it being bigger than I thought it would be, the simulator, not the commanders seat! |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 02-06-2011 01:35 PM
I appreciate all the answers. I've looked in a number of capsules but is seems hard to get a feel as to the lower floor area and the orientation to the control panel from the outside is perpendicular. |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 02-06-2011 01:37 PM
quote:
Originally posted by randy:
I had the privelege of sitting in the commanders seat in the CM simulator ('The great train wreck') at JSC in 1974.
What happened to those simulators? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-06-2011 01:43 PM
See: Apollo CM simulators at KSC and JSC |
Jurg Bolli
Member Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 02-07-2011 11:27 AM
When I was in Huntsville in June 2009 they still had a CM mock-up where you could climb in and get a feel for what it must have been like.
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Mr Meek
Member Posts: 353
From: Chattanooga, TN
Registered: Dec 2007
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posted 02-08-2011 10:38 AM
Unfortunately, the switch panels in the CM mockup in Huntsville have been removed and replaced with an illustration. Several decades of abuse at the hands of inquisitive kids (of which I was most certainly one) took their toll, and I believe that the panels were removed when the mockup was moved to the Davidson Center. I know the switch panels were still in place as late as 2008, as I have a picture of Mrs. Meek and myself in the mockup from February of that year.I've asked about the current state of the panels, and if they might be returned to the mockup, but I haven't heard anything. |
Ade74
Member Posts: 47
From: Peterborough, England
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 06-23-2011 07:26 AM
Is there a museum where there is a LM and/or CM mock up that you can actually stand/lie in? be great to get a real feel for the size/view the astronauts had...I know there is a LM mock up at the Saturn V building at KSC but it's behind perspex from memory. Editor's note: Threads merged. |
space1
Member Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 06-23-2011 08:38 AM
Regarding a Lunar Module cabin, I don't know of any actual NASA trainers that you can get into. However, I have made several simulators for museums that are configured and dimensioned exactly as the real Lunar Module cabins. Look for the Lunar Landing Simulators among the list of exhibit locations. The most recent and most accurate simulation is at Joliet Area Historical Museum in Illinois. Standing inside one of these cockpits gives you a realistic feel for the size of the forward part of the cabin. (The exhibit entry marks the start of the aft cabin.)------------------
John Fongheiser
Historic Space Systems |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 06-23-2011 08:42 AM
How odd that a step-in Lunar Module exists in my hometown (Joliet) and I had no idea. I guess I know where I'm going soon. Thanks for that post. Just made my day. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 06-23-2011 12:23 PM
Back in September 2000, I got the chance to sit in both the CM simulator and the Apollo 13 CM, during it restoration, while on a tour of the Cosmosphere. Apollo 13 CM is now on display and is protected by a glass screen. Unfortunately, the CM simulator is no longer available. The interim executive director at the time, used the simulator for spare parts and it is disassembled now. It was an excellent experience to lie in the simulator and understand how the spacecraft functioned. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-23-2011 12:30 PM
The Apollo CM is in the rocket garden at KSC, along with a climb-in (horizontal) Gemini. There's also a vertical Gemini capsule at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, and last time I was there, had what looked like a climb-in Mercury capsule at the New York Hall of Science. |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1337
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 06-23-2011 02:29 PM
Goddard Visitor's Center has/had a Gemini capsule mockup that you could sit in if I recall correctly.There is also a "Moon Tree" right outside the visitors center. |
space1
Member Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 06-23-2011 04:41 PM
Before going to a lot of trouble to see one of these manufactured exhibits, try to find out how accurately they are designed. For example, the KSC Rocket Garden Gemini is not an exhibit I would seek out for a realistic experience: |
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