NASA opens space shuttle ride for the earthbound

NASA opens space shuttle ride for the earthbound

If you are not one of the seven people scheduled to ride on the space shuttle next week, take heart - NASA has opened a launch simulator for the rest of us.

It will not take years of training and your commitment to space travel can be over in 30 minutes or so, depending on how long the lines are.

Of course, it does not really go anywhere.

But for a few minutes, as you tip backward in your seat and let the special effects of the simulated rocket ride take hold, it is easy enough to suspend disbelief.

That is the appeal of the Shuttle Launch Experience, a $US60 million attraction that opened last weekend at Kennedy Space Centre's Visitors Complex in central Florida.

With input from 27 current and former shuttle astronauts, designer BRP Imagination Arts of Burbank, California, spent years creating an experience that would come as close as possible to a real shuttle launch.
More than a ride

BRP chief Bob Rogers says the experience is more than a ride.

"We don't do empty-headed stuff," he said.

Before people strap in, they get to hear a breezy, videotaped lecture about space shuttle technology given by veteran astronaut Charlie Bolden.

It is a good overview of the program, though the shuttle's impending retirement may make the details a bit irrelevant.

The shuttles are being mothballed in 2010 because they did not meet their original intent of delivering people and cargo to low-Earth orbit safely, cheaply and often.

At the end of the "launch," the shuttle's cargo bay doors open, and while the sight that unfolds may well be state-of-the-art, with an orbital view of Italy projected onto a curved screen and a black-sky background flecked with moving stars, it may be hard not to feel a bit let down.

"It's 100 times more beautiful in person," says an astronaut in one of the video clips before the start of the ride.

Adult general admission tickets to the Kennedy Space Centre's Visitors Complex are about $US40 each and there is no additional charge for a ride on the Shuttle Launch Experience.
Source :http://www.abc.net.au