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Author
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Topic: KSC Visitor Complex: Shuttle Launch Experience
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lewarren
Member Posts: 269
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 08-11-2007 03:58 PM
   
I wanted to add my two cents on the Shuttle Launch Experience (SLE), as someone who has experienced Mission: Space at Epcot and NASA's Motion Base (MB) simulator in B5 at Johnson Space Center. As for myself, I have a Ph.D. in physiology and I completed a postdoc in neuroscience with experience in virtual reality and sensory perception. I have experienced over 90 minutes of weightlessness on the Vomit Comet. I was pleasantly impressed with SLE! I highly recommend the ride to anyone. I don't think that people prone to motion sickness would have a significant problem with this ride. About the launch, there was a LOT more shaking and vibration on the SLE than on the MB. I think that makes this a more realistic simulation of a space shuttle launch. I was grinning widely during the whole ride! I also enjoyed the effect of throttling - there was a pretty effective sensation of acceleration and deceleration. Most surprising was the effect of weightlessness. I actually felt like I was floating away from my seat for several seconds! Importantly, the SLE is not an overly Disney-fied version of a space shuttle launch. The premise is that you are experiencing a ride on a space shuttle simulator with a NASA flight crew at the controls. I give SLE a thumbs up. I also want to praise KSCVC for obviously listening to it's customer feedback. I would guess that most visitors to KSCVC want to meet an astronaut and want to experience a space shuttle launch. A few years ago, I would have classified such suggestions as preposterous. KSCVC has made both possible. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3469
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 02-10-2013 05:42 PM
With (presumably) the work being done on the Atlantis exhibit, you no longer walk up an incline but rather meet in what is SSM-1 (shuttle simulation module room 1) of the Shuttle Launch Experience (not used other than for everybody to gather.) Then you go through an employee corridor into the main waiting room (where you watch an overview) and from there into a room with SSM 2 and 3 (we were on the '2' side, don't think there was enough people to warrant another simulator being used.)They have better green screen photos they take of attendees; I'll upload later. The lockers are more spacious, accompanying a backpack, although you'll need a quarter, which is returned. |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1260
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 07-29-2013 10:21 PM
I rode this thing last week, and was very impressed. The vibration with the SRBs and the G-force we "felt" were very convincing. From the pictures, it looks like I sat in Crip's seat (assuming we were in the same module.)One question, when we went in, they took our photo, but did not see any place to view it when we came out. Anyone know what that is for? |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3469
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-29-2013 11:13 PM
When we went (earlier this year, prior to Atlantis' completion) they took our photo and you purchased it at the cash register right outside the SLE. We got green screened into a pumpkin suit.Now, if they only had the SLE patch for sale by itself, not on a flightsuit or hat.... |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1260
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 07-30-2013 06:30 AM
Yes, I wanted a patch too. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3469
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 03-19-2016 12:37 AM
One thing I realized from my recent trip to KSCVC, after all the years of visiting and experiencing SLE: In real-life it takes about eight minutes to get to orbit. SLE does it in a bit over five. |
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