Space Shuttle Mockup

When you enter space center houston one thing that your students are sure to notice is our life size mock up of the space shuttle nose including the flight deck and mid deck which protrudes from the wall at the back of the center.

Space shuttle mockup. Originally it was used to win approval of the space shuttle program. In april of 1978 the mockup was sent on a barge to kennedy space center ksc in florida to test out systems and facilities like the mate demate device the orbiter processing facility and the vehicle assembly building a monumental structure so big it generates its own miniature weather systems inside. This mock up shows students what the inside of the flight deck and mid deck of the space shuttle looked like.

In later years it was used for hardware and software development. It was shown to nasa and congress to win approval for the space shuttle program. North american rockwell built the shuttle mockup in 1972.

Chuck ryan s story of a space shuttle trainer called resolution is one of time and timing. The space shuttle orbiter simulator is hoisted into the saturn v dynamic test stand at nasa s marshall space flight center. The full scale high fidelity space shuttle mockup which was formerly known as explorer for the 18 years it was displayed at the kennedy space center visitor complex will be loaded on a barge and leave the spaceport on may 20.

After sitting in storage for many years the america japan society inc. The mockup is approximately the same size and shape as an actual orbiter. The space shuttle orbiter mockup was constructed by north american rockwell in 1972.

Ryan began building a full scale mock up of the shuttle s crew compartment some 15 years ago when he was still an engineering student at the california polytechnic state university cal poly. It was also used to design cable harnesses for production shuttle orbiters and to test fit flight hardware. Obtained the wood and steel mockup at a cost of us 1 million and hired teledyne brown engineering to refurbish it to more closely resemble an actual.

Original 1972 space shuttle mockup going on display the original full scale mockup of the space shuttle seen here in 1974 will go on public display in california in july 2012.