You’re holding more computing power in your hand to view this post…
[deleted] on
[removed]
[deleted] on
Holy Neptune! Nothing like the Apollo capsules I saw at Cape Canaveral.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
gatorbeetle on
A few years ago I downloaded the shuttle operations manual, still not sure where I found it. Give me a couple months, I’ll figure it out
rollduptrips on
2 questions:
1. Which side is commander and which is pilot?
2. Would there have normally been some sort of control stick or wheel attached for the gliding portion?
oppositelock27 on
Reminds me of the infinite instrument panel from Airplane.
namespace515 on
Now, where’s the button for the sunroof on this beauty…? The dealer specifically told me this model had a sunroof!
We have steam punk and other styles. Can’t wait for a style to start from this late 80s early 90s button lights and blocky designs.
Stillwater215 on
Where’s the button that speeds and slows the passage of time?
TheSwex on
I feel like the inside of the shuttle must just have the strongest plastic/electronics smell.
jigsaur1 on
This was in the days before automation. Today, a newly designed Shuttle would only have a small fraction of the physical controls we see here. Checklists must have taken forever…
mustang6172 on
I didn’t realize Columbia had been refit with a glass cockpit.
Skogula on
I found a book hidden at my local used book store that details what seems like every panel, with engineering drawings for reproducing them.
“The Space Transportation Systems Reference”.
zunzunzito on
They don’t call it rocket science for nothing!
Buzz_Buzz_Buzz_ on
I bought a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of this image for my eight-year-old nephew. It’s the only puzzle he ever hasn’t finished.
Decronym on
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|CST|(Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules|
| |Central Standard Time (UTC-6)|
|ETOV|Earth To Orbit Vehicle (common parlance: “rocket”)|
|FCC|Federal Communications Commission|
| |(Iron/steel) [Face-Centered Cubic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_iron) crystalline structure|
|[LEM](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/ji9yjne “Last usage”)|(Apollo) [Lunar Excursion Module](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module) (also Lunar Module)|
|[LV](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiaag0n “Last usage”)|Launch Vehicle (common parlance: “rocket”), see ETOV|
|[OMS](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiafg29 “Last usage”)|Orbital Maneuvering System|
|[SSME](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiafg29 “Last usage”)|[Space Shuttle Main Engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_main_engine)|
|[STA](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiaw92x “Last usage”)|Special Temporary Authorization (issued by FCC for up to 6 months)|
| |Structural Test Article|
In the 2023 model, there is only an infuriating touchscreen
Chairboy on
A note, this is the modernized ‘glass cockpit’ version Columbia got shortly before being destroyed. She originally flew with a panel that was much more complicated looking with physical ‘steam gauges’.
bluAstrid on
That’s like if an airliner and a submarine had a baby.
theEvi1Twin on
I’m an aerospace engineer that develops the software that runs in the cockpit. It’s really not as daunting as anyone thinks.
First, the cockpit is completely redundant. So the left and right sides are almost identical. A few things might be on one side only, but for the most part you’re looking at two halves instead of just one massive system.
Second, a large amount of switches in a cockpit are also for power. They’re typically behind the pilot but may also be overhead for really important systems.
A shuttle also doesn’t have the ability to emergency land, so they have to have everything available. The pilots don’t have to know what every switch is and if you’ve seen space movies (maybe apollo 13 shows this) they often have these massive manuals that they walk through switch procedures step by step. I think in the apollo 13 movie Mission Control tells them to run some emergency operation to save power and they have a scene of them searching around for switches while reading the manual. My opinion is that these shuttles are closer to engineering lab equipment which may be why they look the way they do.
Also, the manuals are included for regular commercial aircraft. We (not me but a specific team) have to write these huge procedures for the crew to be able to reference during flight for an emergency or just regular take off stuff. So a lot of these switches become “engineering” switches instead of required during the flight if that makes sense.
This last part is an assumption because I haven’t looked it up, but I’ve always noticed that the astronauts get in the shuttle not too long before take off. Everything is on and running at that point so I think engineers and techs have been there a long time already flipping/configuring a large majority of these switches going through the pre take off sequence.
I’ve been a flight test engineer and they didn’t let us do anything a couple hours before a flight aside from briefing. So no email or work or other people asking you for stuff. It’s so you have a clear head going into the flight and don’t make mistakes thinking about something else. Also we had to be well rested etc. I think the similar goes for the astronauts. They want them there and at take off during peak “awake” time instead of having slog for hours starting the thing.
Don’t mean to take away from what it means to be an astronaut. They’re almost peak humans to me since you must be smart, confident, and physically fit. They’re in a very stressful, complicated operation that you can’t hesitate at all while also needing to literally stay conscious during take off. I think those are bigger feats to me than memorizing what the switches in the cockpit do.
Long post but a love to talk about aerospace and rockets. Hopefully someone finds it interesting.
clavitobee on
it would be cool to have a website where you can click any button or switch or display and it tells you what it does and when they would have to use it
SamwiseGanges on
Those aren’t just instruments, that’s an orchestra
Null1fy on
Which one is the volume knob to crank up the stereo
oicura_geologist on
Honestly, as a pilot this does not intimidate me. I would kill to be able to build a sim cockpit like this however, I wonder if anyone still has schematics of this pit.
26 Comments
You’re holding more computing power in your hand to view this post…
[removed]
Holy Neptune! Nothing like the Apollo capsules I saw at Cape Canaveral.
[deleted]
A few years ago I downloaded the shuttle operations manual, still not sure where I found it. Give me a couple months, I’ll figure it out
2 questions:
1. Which side is commander and which is pilot?
2. Would there have normally been some sort of control stick or wheel attached for the gliding portion?
Reminds me of the infinite instrument panel from Airplane.
Now, where’s the button for the sunroof on this beauty…? The dealer specifically told me this model had a sunroof!
Even though the OP’s image isn’t real, it depicts an old cockpit design. [SpaceX’s Dragon capsule displays](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/crew-1_docking_in_cabin.jpg) show where the ergonomics have gone – with much cleaner presentation and control [(cleaner view here).](https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/wp-content/uploads/sites/230/2020/05/hatch_open.png)
**Edit:**
* [Here’s a real view of the original Shuttle cockpit, before refit.](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/space-shuttle-cockpit-10285938.jpg)
* [Here’s the refit.](https://www.airteamimages.com/pics/195/195076_big.jpg)
Thanks
u/Adeldor
We have steam punk and other styles. Can’t wait for a style to start from this late 80s early 90s button lights and blocky designs.
Where’s the button that speeds and slows the passage of time?
I feel like the inside of the shuttle must just have the strongest plastic/electronics smell.
This was in the days before automation. Today, a newly designed Shuttle would only have a small fraction of the physical controls we see here. Checklists must have taken forever…
I didn’t realize Columbia had been refit with a glass cockpit.
I found a book hidden at my local used book store that details what seems like every panel, with engineering drawings for reproducing them.
“The Space Transportation Systems Reference”.
They don’t call it rocket science for nothing!
I bought a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of this image for my eight-year-old nephew. It’s the only puzzle he ever hasn’t finished.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|CST|(Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules|
| |Central Standard Time (UTC-6)|
|ETOV|Earth To Orbit Vehicle (common parlance: “rocket”)|
|FCC|Federal Communications Commission|
| |(Iron/steel) [Face-Centered Cubic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_iron) crystalline structure|
|[LEM](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/ji9yjne “Last usage”)|(Apollo) [Lunar Excursion Module](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module) (also Lunar Module)|
|[LV](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiaag0n “Last usage”)|Launch Vehicle (common parlance: “rocket”), see ETOV|
|[OMS](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiafg29 “Last usage”)|Orbital Maneuvering System|
|[SSME](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiafg29 “Last usage”)|[Space Shuttle Main Engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_main_engine)|
|[STA](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jiaw92x “Last usage”)|Special Temporary Authorization (issued by FCC for up to 6 months)|
| |Structural Test Article|
|Jargon|Definition|
|——-|———|—|
|[Starliner](/r/Space/comments/133avp9/stub/jib46x0 “Last usage”)|Boeing commercial crew capsule [CST-100](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CST-100_Starliner)|
—————-
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^([Thread #8874 for this sub, first seen 30th Apr 2023, 09:10])
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In the 2023 model, there is only an infuriating touchscreen
A note, this is the modernized ‘glass cockpit’ version Columbia got shortly before being destroyed. She originally flew with a panel that was much more complicated looking with physical ‘steam gauges’.
That’s like if an airliner and a submarine had a baby.
I’m an aerospace engineer that develops the software that runs in the cockpit. It’s really not as daunting as anyone thinks.
First, the cockpit is completely redundant. So the left and right sides are almost identical. A few things might be on one side only, but for the most part you’re looking at two halves instead of just one massive system.
Second, a large amount of switches in a cockpit are also for power. They’re typically behind the pilot but may also be overhead for really important systems.
A shuttle also doesn’t have the ability to emergency land, so they have to have everything available. The pilots don’t have to know what every switch is and if you’ve seen space movies (maybe apollo 13 shows this) they often have these massive manuals that they walk through switch procedures step by step. I think in the apollo 13 movie Mission Control tells them to run some emergency operation to save power and they have a scene of them searching around for switches while reading the manual. My opinion is that these shuttles are closer to engineering lab equipment which may be why they look the way they do.
Also, the manuals are included for regular commercial aircraft. We (not me but a specific team) have to write these huge procedures for the crew to be able to reference during flight for an emergency or just regular take off stuff. So a lot of these switches become “engineering” switches instead of required during the flight if that makes sense.
This last part is an assumption because I haven’t looked it up, but I’ve always noticed that the astronauts get in the shuttle not too long before take off. Everything is on and running at that point so I think engineers and techs have been there a long time already flipping/configuring a large majority of these switches going through the pre take off sequence.
I’ve been a flight test engineer and they didn’t let us do anything a couple hours before a flight aside from briefing. So no email or work or other people asking you for stuff. It’s so you have a clear head going into the flight and don’t make mistakes thinking about something else. Also we had to be well rested etc. I think the similar goes for the astronauts. They want them there and at take off during peak “awake” time instead of having slog for hours starting the thing.
Don’t mean to take away from what it means to be an astronaut. They’re almost peak humans to me since you must be smart, confident, and physically fit. They’re in a very stressful, complicated operation that you can’t hesitate at all while also needing to literally stay conscious during take off. I think those are bigger feats to me than memorizing what the switches in the cockpit do.
Long post but a love to talk about aerospace and rockets. Hopefully someone finds it interesting.
it would be cool to have a website where you can click any button or switch or display and it tells you what it does and when they would have to use it
Those aren’t just instruments, that’s an orchestra
Which one is the volume knob to crank up the stereo
Honestly, as a pilot this does not intimidate me. I would kill to be able to build a sim cockpit like this however, I wonder if anyone still has schematics of this pit.