NASA Columbia 1year Anniversary

Houston,  TX

January 30, 2004

   

	This is the Saturn 5 laid out on its side  at NASA headquarters in Houston TX.   I stopped to get a space helmet for the cactus and wound up with a full flight suit for Mr. Cactus Jack.
	On this trip we got a chance to step inside a mock-up of the space shuttle.  In this simulator all the chairs, switches, gages, and walls are in the right place but only some of them are working.  This is to practice moving around, entering and exiting the vehicle, and testing that everything will fit inside.
	Even Jeffrey got a chance to sit in the pilot's seat.  I was really surprised at how small the space shuttle is inside.  There are only 2 floors.  This is the top floor  know as the "Flight Deck"  I could stand behind the chair and with one hand on the chair touch the back wall with my other.  The bottom floor or the "Mid Deck" is directly below flight deck and is about the size of a reasonably sized bathroom.  That is all the room 4 - 7 people have for their trip into space.
	On the top of this picture is the trainer I was sitting in.  The flight deck is on the very top and blue ladder leads to the hatch to the mid deck.  The people in the bottom of the picture are cleaning up after our day of live shots.
	Here are a few of the switches and knobs in the space shuttle.  For those of you in the satellite business this panel controls their Ku-dish.

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