A Rare Final Look Inside Space Shuttle Atlantis

[n2doc]

By Robert Z. Pearlman

Space shuttle Atlantis, which only five months ago flew the final mission of NASA's 30-year shuttle program, is now being prepared for its public display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. That means, sadly, that Atlantis is scheduled to be powered down for the very last time this week. Its insides are being shamelessly pulled out to ensure it's safe for exhibit--it's important to lighten the shuttle's weight, since it'll be displayed on a steep angle at Kennedy.

collectSPACE.com had the rare opportunity recently to tour Atlantis and photograph its preparation for display. This is one of the last times anyone will be able to capture Atlantis's glass cockpit all lit up like this--and you're privy to the pictures.

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http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-12/rare-last-look-inside-space-shuttle-atlantis

[tonybgood]

1. What has happened to our space program?

It's just too bad we couldn't have put the money used in the Iraq-Afghanistan Wars on having a viable space program. For that much money, we'd be launching a manned mission to Mars instead of a rover!!!

[Gore1FL]

3. We haven't had a president with vision since Kennedy

When Apollos 18, 19, and 20 were scrubbed we started a transition. Reagan cemented the deal for us and instead of being a country that did things, we decided to do things on the cheap and let everyone else pass us by.

Like you, I look to the day when there is a manned trip to Mars. I got to be honest though, right now I'd be happier with a fleet of rovers to explore the Moon, Mars, Venus, Europa, Titan, etc. along with a fleet of probes and couple dozen orbital telescopes.

We should probably re-dig the ground in TX and build that particle accelerator that (I am ashamed to say) the Democrats killed in 1993.

The person who put it best (in my mind) is Neil deGrasse Tyson:

[tridim]

5. Fortunately it is alive and well

It's not a stretch to say we've discovered more about the Universe in the past decade than we have in the entire history of the human race.

Space exploration is so much more than sending people into orbit. Sure it could stand more funding, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening. We're about to discover fossils on Mars, for instance.

[progressoid]

2. Looking a little dated...

[HopeHoops]

4. Ever been in a nuke plant control room?

It's like vintage 1950's science fiction in there.

[caraher]

6. For the opposite extreme, look at the latest fighter planes

They've gone to incredible extremes to make it possible for one person to control a high-tech machine while undergoing great stresses and minimize the "switchology." But that creates new challenges... someone I know in the defense industry was talking about flying the F-22 and how moving your pinky this way does X, that way does Y... and it all takes a lot of effort to get used to it.

From Global Security:

Both the stick and the throttles are high-use controls during air combat. To support pilot functional requirements, the grips include buttons and switches (that are both shape and texture coded) to control more than 60 different time-critical functions. These buttons are used for controlling the offensive (weapons targeting and release) and defensive systems (although some, like chaff and flares, can operate both automatically and manually) as well as display management.

Once again, if it's for the military it's first-class... space, not so much these days.

[tonybgood]

7. You're forgetting something.

The space shuttles were built in the 80's using 70's technology. The F-22's are built now using 2000's technology. If we were to build a new shuttle, the look would be different than the old shuttles because the technology used would be different.
Not so much about first-class, it's about when they were built. I'm surprised, for instance, that the X-37 unmanned shuttles aren't immediately redesigned for manned flights. Go to the ISS, come back. My point above about the money spent on war is that the technological infrastructure for permanent occupation of space could have been purchased and we would now be in a position to benefit. Instead, we've wasted $1T and what do we have to show for it?

[backscatter712]

8. The X-37s at present aren't big enough.

The cargo bay of the X-37 is about the size of the bed of a pickup truck.

That's enough for one astronaut, maybe two, and then the pressurized cabin, the compressed oxygen, food, water, etc.

It would have to be super-sized in order to make it capable of carrying people. Though Boeing has a design known as the X-37C that would do just that.

[caraher]

9. Sure

Our "latest" design for manned spaceflight is (was!) 3-4 decades old. Our priorities have been elsewhere.