October 1, 2012
Ohio’s Space Shuttle
When NASA retired its space shuttle fleet last year, the three flown orbiters — Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour — and the Enterprise atmospheric test vehicle all went to museums in big tourism markets: Washington, Orlando, Los Angeles, and New York, respectively.
That still left a few prize pieces of shuttle hardware for smaller venues, however. One of them — the Crew Compartment Trainer, or CCT-1, — is now at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This was the high-fidelity mockup used by almost all shuttle crews for training.
Judging from this video, the Museum plans to turn it into quite an impressive exhibit, complete with a full-size payload bay and ramped walkways in the shape of wings.
Way to go, Ohio.
That is an impressive display and an excellent use of the hardware. I hope that the Houston Space Center does something as good with the Explorer.
Comment by JohnD — October 2, 2012 @ 9:09 am
CCT – 1 was made after Atlantis and it was quite different experience than the original flight. This simulator was deeply criticized by NASA engineers.
Comment by Madeline — October 2, 2012 @ 5:41 pm