What's it like to land NASA's Space Shuttle? We find out We take a ride in a Space Shuttle simulator with Astronaut Karol 'Bo' Bobko. By Martyn Williams. Senior Correspondent. One More Ride On The Space Shuttle (Simulator) After 30 years, two tragedies, and 130 successful missions that seemed to make space flight almost routine, the shuttle program is coming to a close. What's next in human space flight for America is unclear.

It would be great, though not very original, to say that the new shuttle launch simulator at the Florida is an out-of-this-world experience. It also wouldn’t be true.

Riders are, disappointingly, stranded on planet Earth yet again. But that doesn’t upset the creator of the $60-million Shuttle Launch Experience in the least.

“I don’t want to satisfy the audience, that’s the last thing I want to do. I want to permanently give them a thirst,” said Bob Rogers, the founder and chairman of BRC Imagination Arts, which created the attraction.

So it won’t ruin the suspense to learn that at the end of the five-minute ride, after you’ve felt the flesh on your face bounce against your neck, while your legs still tingle and the vibrations from “launch” still ring in your back, even knowing that you’ve gone exactly nowhere, you remain childishly hopeful that when the doors open you’ll behold something akin to what has been endlessly described but rarely experienced: our blue world floating in a black sky. Instead, you see a mildly fetching but annoying replica of Earth, a cool reminder that real spaceflight remains beyond reach.

The ride is fun, not at all nauseating like Mission: Space at the nearby Disney Epcot Center, but also not likely to win a contest for biggest thrill. “I’d rather ride a roller coaster,” said Alex Salvador, a student from Washington, who climbed aboard the shuttle simulator during a practice run last weekend.

BRC and Delaware North, which operates the visitor center for NASA, took pains to make the Shuttle Launch Experience as realistic as possible. They consulted 27 present and former shuttle astronauts, pressed for state-of-the-art imagery systems and spent generously for special effects, like vibrating floors where guests gather before boarding and fog machines that simulate the steam during liftoff.

There’s nothing fake about the mission commander, either. Veteran astronaut Charlie Bolden appears on a giant video screen to chat up the technical details of the flight with humor ( “You’re going somewhere,” he says. “You’d just better hope it’s up!”) and an occasional note of seriousness. When the shuttle’s main engines throttle up after passing through the point of maximum atmospheric pressure, Bolden reminds the audience that it was at this point of the flight that the space shuttle Challenger was lost in 1986. “This is always a thoughtful moment,” he says.

For the ride itself, visitors sit in 44-seat modules that simulate (imaginary) passenger pods in the shuttle cargo bay. The floor is inclined seven degrees and the seats recline an additional 62.5 degrees so that passengers come close to laying flat on their backs, just as shuttle astronauts do at liftoff. Technical wizardry accounts for other perceptual tricks, such as the sense of increased G-forces during launch and the feeling of weightlessness in space (for spoilsports, it’s done by inflating and deflating seat cushions).

The ride is housed in a seven-story building, specially designed to project a moving star field for the finale: an orbital view of Italy set against the backdrop of space. “This is the most realistic simulation there is,” said former astronaut Rick Searfoss, who served as a primary consultant for the Shuttle Launch Experience.

“There are better rides,” said visitor Scott Eccarius, a South Dakota eye surgeon. “But this is the real deal. This will be as close as we get in our lifetime.”

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1. Shuttle: The Space Flight Simulator

Shuttle: The Space Flight Simulator

DOS - 1992

Also available on: Amiga - Atari ST

Description of Shuttle: The Space Flight Simulator

Shuttle is a vastly underrated and undersold simulation, probably because it is a 'hard' SCI-FI game with a steep learning curve. This is the perfect game for would-be astronauts. It's a very realistic (and the only decent) simulation of the Space Shuttle. This one should not be approached by casual gamers, as this game is rock-hard. The flight model (well at least the atmospheric one) is very good, and it the glide test, the shuttle really handles like the enormous winged brick it is.

I can't really comment on much of this game as I haven't been able to do everything it offers, but I can tell you what you'll have all the initial flight test of the shuttle, as well as a plethora of mission to accomplish. Avionics are very detailed, and you should get a proper manual to get to use this game effectively. The manual accurately describes the launch and mission procedures, and unless you happen to work on the space shuttle program, you'll very likely need it. Graphics are very good for the time, sporting good old polygons in VGA resolution. Sound is somewhat limited, but decent.

This is a great game that has never really had a sequel (Microsoft Space Simulator lost itself in space), but one really needs to persist with it. Definitively recommended.

Review By HOTUD

Captures and Snapshots

Screenshots from MobyGames.com

Comments and reviews

Motoman2019-03-280 point

Wood love to play space shuttle game free download

old guy2017-10-290 point Amiga version

I had that sim back than. I lent the FDD to a neighbor and never got it back.
Nice to find it here.
I still have the sad manual and the big poster of the controls. :-D

jA2017-05-19-1 point

How to download.

OM2013-02-132 points DOS version

..Like BARIS, this one was required if you were serious about space, especially the Shuttle. Quite a number of Astronauts owned copies of this one, and gave it high marks for realism and complexity. Sally Ride, Bob Crippen, Hoot Gibson, Steve Hawley and Hank Hartsfield were among those who spoke positively about the sim, and also noted that it was popular among the flight controllers in the MCC. Some of the SIMSUPs actually used the sim to test ideas for failure modes to throw at the crews during actual Shuttle simulator training.
..It does have one hell of a steep learning curve, and the manual is a must if you can find it online. Don't be surprised if you crash into the 747 a few dozen times during the ALT scenario, but don't be discouraged either.

Eric Blatchford2012-08-01-7 points DOS version

This was boring 20 years ago on the Amiga and is still Incredibly dull today. Good only for re-enacting Disasters!!!

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DOS Version

Game Extras

Various files to help you run Shuttle: The Space Flight Simulator, apply patchs, fixes, maps or miscellaneous utilities.

Amiga ROM

• Year:1992
• Publisher:Virgin Games, Inc.
• Developer:Vektor Grafix Ltd

Atari ST ROM

• Year:1992
• Publisher:Virgin Games, Inc.
• Developer:Vektor Grafix Ltd

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