posted 12-30-2009 10:10 AM               

Builder's 'Resolution' a Labor of Love

Chuck Ryan's story of a space shuttle trainer called "Resolution" is one of time and timing.

Ryan began building a full-scale mock-up of the shuttle's crew compartment some 15 years ago when he was still an engineering student at the California Polytechnic State University, Cal-Poly.

Credit: NASA/Steve Siceloff

Image above: Chuck Ryan stands in front of the space shuttle crew compartment replica he built when he was going to school in California. The replica now stands near Kennedy Space Center.

The attention to detail is obvious: on the outside, careful layering of fiberglass displays the rounded aerodynamic features of a real shuttle. On the inside, Ryan said, the cockpit was complete down to the thousandth toggle switch.

"I was one of those children of Apollo," Ryan said. "I was very interested in NASA my whole life."

Ryan said he gave his first NASA-focused presentation in fourth grade. He got a scuba diving license at age 13 and started learning to fly airplanes when he was 15, though his parents didn't know about it.

"I was actually flying over my house without them even knowing it," Ryan said.

While studying at Cal-Poly, Ryan volunteered at NASA's Ames Research Center near San Francisco.

Since the space agency has certain restrictions against self-promotion, Ryan formed a student group to advertise NASA's goals and missions. Part of the work included building a shuttle flight deck into a flight simulator so people could pretend to fly a shuttle.

Working on their own time with donated wood, steel and other materials, the group of about 10 students decided to add a middeck and mount the flight deck to the top of it. Eventually, they added a mock-up of the 60-foot-long cargo bay.

Ryan explains: "It all started with a phrase that should never be uttered: 'How hard can it be?'"

It was far from a smooth construction process, though. At one point, the flight deck fell from a crane and shattered on impact.

"I thought that was it," Ryan said.

Ryan and his small band regrouped to rebuild the flight deck. But the large mock-up had to be moved from its construction site on campus. The students found a home for it 30 miles away on a strawberry farm.

Credit: Chuck Ryan

Image above: "Resolution" as it was being built in Santa Maria, Calif.

He finished it there and it weighed about 15 tons at that point. But then it had to be moved again to make way for a housing development. By this time, though, the real shuttle program had a retirement date.

Saying he was asked by NASA to configure the mock-up as a trainer for firefighters to practice with, Ryan packed the shuttle for shipment by train to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, more than 2,000 miles away.

It rolled into the rail yard near the Vehicle Assembly Building the day after space shuttle Discovery’s Return to Flight mission, STS-114, launched in 2005.

"For one brief moment, the Resolution was part of the fleet," Ryan said.

After a couple days in the rail yard, the mock-up was on the move again, this time stopping at a part of land where Ryan reassembled it while trying to determine its future.

He even rode out Tropical Storm Fay inside the mock-up in August 2008 and sought shelter inside it during a tornado warning.

The shuttle nose section moved once more to a small parcel of land just outside Kennedy's south gate where drivers can see it easily as they head to and from the center.

After Ryan approached NASA this spring saying his project was almost complete, Kennedy fire safety, engineering and center operations personnel began a thorough review for possible uses for the mock-up. But following the evaluation, NASA management determined Kennedy had the right resources to safely train crews and safety professionals through the end of Space Shuttle Program and there wasn’t a need for an additional shuttle trainer with the fleet’s retirement less than a year away.

Ryan doesn't know what the future holds for his would-be trainer, but his own plans include resuming his schooling and achieving closure for a project that has consumed much of his adult life.

Looking back on the effort, Ryan said the project showed how deeply the promise of space exploration can take hold.

"It's a testament to the love of manned spaceflight," Ryan said.

posted 12-30-2009 10:17 AM               

• December 30, 2009 - Shuttle replica still needs a home

  After months of searching for a new home for a full-scale model of the space shuttle's crew compartment, Chuck Ryan is beginning to accept the replica he spent almost 15 years building may soon be destroyed.

  He is now trying to find takers for 1,000 toggle switches, 50 gallons of paint, 40 gallons of fiberglass resin, plywood, tools and other never-used materials...

• May 26, 2009 - New home needed for shuttle replica

  Local colleges, businesses and a museum in Tampa expressed interest in taking Resolution! as a display. Cape Canaveral is looking into adopting the model.

  "It's hard to say without actually seeing the thing," said Paul Pritchard, vice president of the city's business and cultural development board. "But as there's an interest in developing a space museum, this could be one of the factors to develop that."

posted 01-02-2010 01:08 PM               

The photos were taken on May 6, 1988, during rescue training beside the Shuttle Landing Facility. This took place just several months before the STS-26 Return-to-Flight mission. This full-size mockup may have continued to be used for years and since then replaced by another (?).

posted 01-14-2010 08:47 PM               

Just need "someones" to donate the transportation costs. US 6 runs right through Walkerton and HUGE freight semi's come down it all the time!

posted 04-14-2011 11:13 AM               

I will admit that I went through the bent up gate to get a closer look, but it was boarded up so I couldn't really see inside. I could tell by the construction material that it wasn't aerospace build and I actually thought it might be a childrens play fort.

As cool as the thing really is, after getting an up close look (not inside) I don't think any museum is going to have much interest in it. Like I said, after getting a close look I actually assumed it was a children's play fort because it was mostly wood/steel/plywood.

I wonder where he's storing all the other parts? Very cool project none the less, even if it isn't museum quality its alot more than I'd ever be able to pull off!

posted 11-11-2011 11:34 AM               

I'm not sure a "rescue" could of happened, but I sure was willing to give it a shot and look at the possibilities.

posted 11-11-2011 11:48 PM               

I too would LOVE to see photos of the interior of this. Was it ever wired up? Otherwise I wouldn't get what the purpose was to build it.

posted 11-12-2011 04:12 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by p51:
Otherwise I wouldn't get what the purpose was to build it.

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Since the space agency has certain restrictions against self-promotion, Ryan formed a student group to advertise NASA's goals and missions. Part of the work included building a shuttle flight deck into a flight simulator so people could pretend to fly a shuttle.

posted 04-20-2014 07:17 AM               

Ryan tried to find a good home for the shuttle, but no one wanted to pay to move it, a job only a crane could handle. He stripped toggle switches and seats and anything inside. The materials went to whoever would take them.

In recent years, Mother Nature has composted much of the wood that formed the shuttle's nose. Today, only the crew quarters remain, a rotting, soggy mass of particle board and peeling green paint. Birds have nested among the support beams. Wasps have claimed corners and Brazilian pepper trees are climbing in, too. The shuttle is slightly hidden beside a road frequented by space center workers.

The black letters of Resolution! on the starboard side now read: Resolu. The peeling plastic letters on the port side read, perhaps ironically: solution!.

A sign for Atlantic Mortgage Services of Satellite Beach leans against rubble near the shipwrecked shuttle.

Atlantic president Dan Overstreet owns the land where Resolution! rests. He said he's looking for a space-related use for the shuttle. He doesn't want to destroy it, calling it a "local fixture."

posted 04-21-2014 12:57 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by JSC01:
It's still astonishing to me that this wonderful high fidelity replica was not grabbed by some institution for display.

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posted 10-16-2016 06:00 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Resolutioncmdr:
A book in a year and and movie in two.

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posted 10-17-2016 12:59 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by p51:
You'd need a crane and a big truck to move something like that.

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