The HabForum

Well the hab seems dead and in desperate need of a new topic. Well earlier today i was thinking back to my first trip to space camp and particularly my first impressions of the Columbia simulator. Well id just like to get peoples first impressions of the diffrent shuttle cockpits theyve used at space camp over the years and how they may have changed after using them
Well the first year i went to Space Camp and we used Columbia. From the outside it looks pretty decent except its hatch was on the wrong side. When i got inside i was verry disapointed though. The mideck was verry bare, It had the lockers and seats for an MS and 2 PS's. It also had a small slender tube with a round hatch that was supose tobe the airlock. When i got up to the flight deck my impressions didnt improve. Instead of a realistic cockpit i found 3 seats a computer screen with keypad, 2 joysticks, headsets and 3 overhead switches. Oh and 2 TV screens to show the earth from orbit. Although not verry impressive by the time i got into the mission i forgot how cheasy it was and enjoyed the experiance but needless to say it was definately a simulator geared for elementary school kids which we were. It was age apropriate but seeing Enterprise across the way it made me want to come back again so i could move onto bigger and better. Well ill have to post more on the others i used later since i have to go for a while.

I didn't care I was just so happy that I was able to go to Space Camp. I thought it was cool because I've never been in anything like Enterprise before.

My Second year i was at Space AQcademy Level 1. On the Endeavour mission i was commander. Well i'd seen endeavour when i was their in 91 but only from the outside. My first impression was probably yhe same as everyones its small and its cramped. When you first enter you see what passes for a mid deck with storage lockers and 4 chairs. Their isnt much to it but their is enough room for some expirements by the PS's. Ducking through another hatch you move to the front where you find the flight deck, Here you have 4 chairs for the commander pilot and 2 MS's. Endeavours cockpit was much more complex looking closer to Enterprise but not complete. My first thoughts were how will i ever learn all this. One of the Best parts of endeavour was the cockpit tilted back for launch which made it more realistic. Now i never got to go inside Discovery but i did get to visit Atlantis on the last day. Atlantis was where they filmed the space scenes in the movie Space Camp. Entering the mid deck it looks alot like Enterprise. Its a full scale interior. Lockers, airlock, and seats . On the flight deck the realism even surpassed Enterprise. The Atlantis cockpit seemed more complete. Guages and other items painted on the enterprise control panels were actually their. I would have loved to use this simulator but i'm yet to find anyone who ever has. I'm really suprised its not used for ASA.

Well ill get to enterprise later when i have more time.

Yes, I do remember being a little overwhlemed with Columbia once I got in it, but I was still amazed at just being there!

The fact that it wasn't an exactly perfect replica in now way detracted from the greatness of just being at camp!

Well from the day i saw Enterprise my first day of camp in 91 i knew thats where i wanted to be. When i went in 98 i was its pilot. Kind of funny that in 91 the commander and i said wed be pilot and commander of Enterprise one day well atleast one of us made it. I loved everything about enterprise its size, its realism the fact that it meant id finnaly gotten to the top of the space camp latter of programs. Only had one complaint and thats that it had some guages painted on where as Atlantis used by space academy was more realistic. Even so i didnt care it wads the closest ill probably ever get to flying the space shuttle. And it was a fulfilment of a dream started from the first time i saw Enterprise in 91.

Actually, if I remember right, Discovery was not bad with the switch department. There weren't a lot of painted on switches or anything. All the overhead switches seemed to be in place and I remember feeling quite... apprehensive about being Commander the first time I sat down in the chair.

I do recall some missing things on the RMS panel though... but it wasn't my field of expertise nor something I had to control so I didn't pay much attention to it. Downfall of the mission really, considering the Pilot (whose job it was to USE the [darn] panel) forgot which switches to use to launch the satellite.

Getting back on topic, I was never in Endeavour or Columbia to know its completeness... nor Atlantis (which I still can't stand to this day!!)

Oh well

Of the older simulators the only one i havent been in is Discovery although i got a quick glance ionto it when going to the space station for the EDM. Ofcourse ive never been inside Intrepis either but thats because it was put in since my last trip to camp.

Well, anything added since 1991 I've not touched. I saw SOME things in 1995 when I went to the USSRC as a tourist... but that's the last time I've been there.

Their hasnt been a whole lot added since 1995 but their were a few things like Intrepid.

yeah, I was able to keep up a little bit with the application guides... but then they started really becomming the same thing printed each year with a change in price I stopped paying attention to them.

It's too bad Space Camp news isn't around. I really liked that publication.

Yeah Space Campo news was great for learning what was new at camp each year. I only got a few of the later issues but i always enjoyed them. Prior to the addition of Intrepid the only big additions back to 1991 were the additions of Endeavour and the mars mission both added in 91. Their were a few made at AC as well but most people here wouldnt know the diffrences.

Nah, I never cared that much about AC. I remember visiting the area one afternoon to see what it was all about but other than that, didn't care much.

AC was a great program its just diffrent. But really space camp seems slow to make big changes till the last couple of years. Intrepid was the first new shuttle cockpit added since 1991. The UAT tank was finnally updated to make the stuff space station related in the last couple of years. Space Lab that Discovery has isnt even used anymore on real shuttle missions and ofcourse the light blue flight suits that space camp just recently stopped using havent been used by the astronauts since 1986. Just a few things the camp has been slow to change over the years.

I do remember thinking how small the middeck of Enterprise was and how it was so crowded with everyone down there!

Well Enterprises mid deck may seem a little cramped but look at some of the pictures of the shuttle mid deck when a shuttle is in space with all the gear onboard it makes Enterprise look quite spacious.

I know it's small in real life but you just can't picture it until you experience it for yourself.

Thats true. And ofcourse some flights the mid deck is less crowded especially if carrying spacelab or space hab modules which give lots of extra room for expirements and equipment.

In past years, I'd never been in Enterprise, but I just came back from ASA and we used Enterprise for our EDM. I was in MOCR, so I can't tell you much about the orbiter, but they had just updated the sim. We were the second team to use it since they had finished. There were still a few bugs in the system, but apparently everything was new and much cooler.

Well bugs have to be expected especially in a new system. Ofcourse as long as i've been going to space camp there have always been bugs in some of the systems.