Kennedy Space Center is getting closer to opening their new Shuttle Launch Experience ride. It looks to be a good addition to the Space Center.
From the news article:
The ride is housed in a 44,000-square-foot building, which visitors enter through a gantry walkway. Once inside the building, they are seated in any of four simulator cabins, each holding as many as 44 people. The cabin faces a large projection and plasma television screen held on robotic arms.
The ride simulates a launch, replete with vibrations and jolts. Once in space, riders get a view of the Earth when a likeness of payload-bay doors opens. Unlike Walt Disney World’s Mission: Space ride, the visitor center’s equipment doesn’t spin and won’t increase G-force pressure on its occupants.
From the Space Center’s news release:
The journey begins as visitors enter the Shuttle Launch Simulation Facility, architecturally inspired by space shuttle facilities at Kennedy Space Center. As visitors ascend along the gantry, astronaut testimonials set the stage for what is to come. Entering the heart of shuttle operations for the pre-launch briefing, crew members are guided by veteran Shuttle Commander Charlie Bolden as he takes them step-by-step through the launch sequence. They then enter the crew pod in the shuttle’s cargo bay and strap in for launch. For the next five minutes, the pod’s 44 passengers see, feel and live the trip to 17,500 mph. As the shuttle bay doors open, what follows is a breathtaking view of Earth seldom seen in the first person.
