Warbird Information Exchange

Well, as close as anyone can, anyway...
My wife and I toured the full shuttle trainer today, the first day anyone could do so normally. It was the trainer used in Houston for ALL shuttle crews and is now on public display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. They just started doing tours you need to buy a ticket for well in adavance. I wasn't going to miss my shot at seeing that! My wife came along because she thought it'd be cool too...
We were shown the mid deck and the WCS then taken to the flight deck. The interior is well used, let's just say, just I thought it'd be. It being the first weekend, they gave away a nice bag of swag to the people who'd signed up for the first tours (they were specific to say they won't be repeating this in the future), including some 'astronaut ice cream' and a certificate stating you'd toured it. Great thing I brought my wife along and she didn't want any of it (other than the pin they gave her, I opted for the patch of the same design).
OUTSIDE AND CARGO BAY AREA (this is what the public gets to see any time they walk in to the building):




To the hatch (note the drag marks where crews practiced roping out of the top hatches):


GETTING INSIDE (you can only do this on weekends with a special ticket bought well in advance):

Mid deck lockers, still with added velcro and signs from previous crews:

I didn't realize the waste disposal was right next to the main hatch...

Entry to the ISS airlock collar:

My favorite part (I was surprised how little room there is in here, it's more crowded than a airliner's flight deck:


Canada arm and other controls, some of the few areas that are plexiglassed over:

And me, gloating...

They also had display cases at the rear of the display, which had the flight suit of a crewman killed in the STS-107 disaster and the jacket for the commander of the Challenger mission that exploded in ascent. It was quite sobering. Also they had lots of other NASA flight gear whichg of course I was interested in.




And Deke Slayton's jacket from when he was chief astronaut, in the main gallery of the same museum:

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

You are very fortunate to be one of the first to be able to take that tour. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.
Some great shots.
The space program has always fascinated me. Those folks had some serious guts! Can you imagine what that ride in the STS or a Saturn V must have felt like? HOLY!!!........

Andy Scott

Darn right!
I'm reading John Young's biography right now (Gemini, Apollo 16 and commanded the first shuttle mission, STS-1). I can't imagine strapping into Apollo 8 (first mission around the Moon) or STS-1 (flying a untested design for the very first time), those men had huge brass ones, that's for sure!
I always had a general interest in the space program (I was just a tiny kid when the last moon shots went up but remember the shuttle era well). A visit to Kennedy Space center last year re-kindled my interest, so much so that I actually dropped an application to be an astronaut (but I found I have some non-serious medical issues that would keep me on the ground).
I did Adult Space Camp in September which was a blast. Visiting this simulator was amazing because I knew what most of the stuff was really for and how it worked.

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Great pictures!!! Still bugs me that the Shuttle has been retired...

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Those pictures are great! Although some might find the chipped paint and wear a bitt off putting I think it is neat and they should keep the signs of wear and tear..

_________________
Cheers,
Peter

________

I liked seeing the drag marks on the side from where the crews used it for rope egress training (there's a good photo in several books of John Glenn sliding down the pilot's side of this very trainer on a rope). They pointed out the drag marks on the bottom part of the main hatch where everyone had to slide in. "Those, folks, are the marks from heroes," I heard a guide say. Truer words were never spoken!

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

The museum had their annual excess stuff sale from their library (if there was ever a strong reason to never donate anything to a museum, this annual sale is surely it) and afterward I did the tour again. It's just as cool the second time. I was less than impressed at the young lady guide in the cockpit, who didn't know some pretty basic info on the program (for example, she never knew the Columbia had ejection seats in it's history, nor that one mission did land somewhere other than Edwards of KSC. It was tough to keep my trap shut), but I enjoyed it anyway. It's a 'must see' if you're in Seattle on a weekend. There was only one other guy on the tour with me and he seemed to just be there for the heck of it.

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Surplus book and magazine sales are pretty standard operating procedure for most museums. I know for an absolute fact that the MoF tells donors who are giving books and magazines that the items may be duplicates to the collection and sold as surplus to benefit the museum. There are only so many copies of Gunston's The Encyclopedia of the World's Combat Aircraft that a library needs.

I think it's fairly safe to say that most aviation museums' libraries are operating on fairly small budgets. Surplus sales like this provide money for museum library's to purchase newly published books, archival supplies, etc. They are an important source of much needed income. Thankfully there are plenty of people out there who DON'T feel the same way you do about it...

_________________
Curator - EAA Aviation Museum, Oshkosh, WI
"Let No Story Go Untold!"
http://www.timelessvoices.org

In fact, donating items to a museum which re-sells them is win-win-win. Some enthusiast, hopefully a youngster, gets good stuff for cheap; the museum gets revenue; and you get rid of your stuff plus the knowledge that it found a good home and the museum got what it really needs.

August

At this past Abbotsford Airshow the Canadian Museum of Flight had a ton of books for sale for 2 bucks each. Lots of old Squadron In Action and Walk Arounds. I think my arms stretched 6 inches lugging them back to the car (twice!). I got some great books and the museum got a nice donation.

I'm in the win win for everyone category.

_________________
-Al Sauer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat