Restoring a NASA Space Shuttle Flight Simulator

This video shows, in narrated slideshow format, a description of one of the Space Shuttle flight simulators (called the Motion Base) used at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to train every Space Shuttle astronaut. In particular, it documents the effort required to restore the simulator for display at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston, after sitting in a disassembled state for 9 years.

[@peterainsworth8466]

Fascinating stuff Carl. Impressive work from the volunteers. Well done.

[@ttpechon2535]

I just realized I was subbed to you for model trains, and now you post this! Perfect!

[@CarlBrainerd]

Great! Glad we can benefit from the "crossover"!

[@gingin3388]

Truly impressive.
Is it driven by the original software ?

[@CarlBrainerd]

Sadly, the simulator is not operational. It is a static display only. The museum had no space for the computer complex and it would have taken an estimated 50,000 labor hours to reassemble it and run the miles of cables involved and to install the motion system hardware. Then it would have taken a large staff to keep it running (like it had when it was operational operational). So, basically really impractical. In addition, the museum had a requirement that the display be moveable, so we put wheels under it. But moveability would not have been possible with the entire complex hooked up. The images on the cockpit displays are hard copies taken from videos recorded when the last Shuttle crew was training (see the videos elsewhere on this channel). The hard copies were printed on photo paper and are stuck to the face of the displays with double-stick tape, and came out looking pretty good all considered. The original videos play on a video monitor in the rear of the cockpit and also on a display outside the cockpit, and the audio is piped into the cockpit using the original aural cue speakers. I wish we could display the videos "live" on the displays, but that would have required replacing the displays with non-prototypical LED monitors and considerable effort to engineer a system to drive the displays with multiple time-synchronized video feeds. Once again, beyond the capability of the museum.

[@phatcat7263]

whenever i see this kind of work it makes me wonder what else is just sitting around in warehouses across the country

[@CarlBrainerd]

Yeah, good question. I can speak to the other two Space Shuttle Simulators. One is at the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, OK (not restored last time I saw it) and the other is at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tuscon, AZ where it was desecrated by modifying it for use as a movie prop. I have always wondered what happened to the Apollo era simulators (for Command Module and Lunar Module). Maybe sitting in the back of some dusty warehouse at the Smithsonian.......