Canon EOS 5D Mark II
ƒ/5
18 mm
1/100
1600

Here you see a model of the VMS used for Space Shuttle pilot training. It is the largest motion simulator in the world.

It is deep in the secure part of the NASA Ames campus, across the street from a stone building with engraved wings “N.A.C.A. Flight Research”, the original building before it became NASA.

The model shows some details that are hard to see otherwise: two huge hydraulic pistons extend 75 ft. into the ground. And the room is 120 ft. tall. The pistons lift 140,000 lbs, with a simulator that can slide along the massive horizontal beam. The pod can also pivot about like the stationary simulators.

3 responses to “Simulated Simulator”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    more details:

    Reply
  2. biotron Avatar
    biotron

    ah, now it becomes really clear – thanks 🙂 my dad would have loved to see / fly this…

    Reply
  3. m.p.moody Avatar
    m.p.moody

    I had a chance to fly the original Space Shuttle Simulator when I worked at Singer-Link In the early 80’s. I created the Earth Model for the first Space Shuttle Simulator out-the-window scenes, using the 20 Global Navigation Charts, digitizing all of the continental boundaries and mapping from Lambert/Mercator projections. Compared to today’s simulators it was relatively crude, but supported the initial missions. It took about 10 refrigerator sized cabinets of hardware to generate the 4 out the window displays (TTL, before ASICS).

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *