Really curious if the space shuttle launch simulators are in a museum somewhere for visitors to see and learn more about? Also curious if maybe there is a technical book on those simulators?
1 Answer
The three Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) training bases are, or will "soon" be, in museums. However, they are a shadow of their operational selves.
The Fixed Base is in the Stafford Museum in Oklahoma. This was the first SMS crew station visible to the public.
(picture from Facebook SMS page)
The Motion Base, after being in durance vile at Texas A&M University for 10 years, was returned to Houston. Its crew station was lovingly restored by a dedicated team of volunteers and is now on public display at the Lone Star Flight Museum along with a small but fascinating collection of related artifacts.
The Guidance and Navigation Simulator was given to a small museum in Florida which went out of business before ever placing the simulator on display. It has recently been delivered to the Pima Air and Space Museum. However, the crew station was heavily modified for use in a motion picture.
A couple of old manuals are available online
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1$\begingroup$ @user39728_i_said_user_39728_i_ As a general rule, CFD simulations tend to run at slower than real time. Much slower than real time is typical (and desirable!) A training simulation should run exactly at real time, which pretty much rules out CFD. If the simulation can run faster than real time (that too is desirable), there are simple solutions that can make that faster than real time sim run at exactly real time (e.g., a busy loop or a wait). OTOH, there's nothing that can be done to make a slower than real time sim run at real time other than buying a faster computer. $\endgroup$ May 24, 2021 at 11:47
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1$\begingroup$ Ooh, the Lone Star Flight Museum is just down the road from me. Looking forward to this one! $\endgroup$– TristanMay 24, 2021 at 13:29
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1$\begingroup$ @uhoh it's one of the more disappointing chapters in this whole sad story. TAMU per their request was given everything needed to get a complete Shuttle Mission Simulator base up and running - All the cabinets, CPUs, the crew station, visual systems, the flight computers, cabling, the software. And they did nothing with it, nothing. It sat in that cage for 10 years. $\endgroup$ May 24, 2021 at 20:32
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1$\begingroup$ @uhoh unfortunately that ship has sailed; just the crew station and a few other appurtenances are going to be displayed at the Lone Star Flight Museum. There are no plans to even try to get a working simulator base any more. $\endgroup$ May 24, 2021 at 20:51
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1$\begingroup$ @Tristan if you're close to the Lone Star Flight museum, you might also look into which of the Space Center Houston tours goes to SAIL. It doesn't run sims anymore but that's one of the more impressive museum exhibits I've seen in my time in Houston. $\endgroup$ May 6, 2022 at 6:29