Space Shuttle Simulations

by Leslie Ringo

Our next simulation will be Feb 22-March 23, 2000. We run motion simulations every six months at the Ames Vertical Motion Simulator.

Our research will be examining some engineering studies regarding roll out distances. This is regarding the distance down the runway the Space Shuttle requires when landing. We will study various landing scenarios with different winds.

The major portion of every space shuttle simulation session is Astronaut training for the landing phase of a shuttle mission. This is for airspeeds less than Mach 1.

Training at Ames' Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) is essential to the Astronaut crews because we can provide a very high fidelity simulation. This means most like the really landing. We can throw in various failures (like a blown tire) to better train the Astronauts for failures during the landing.

The VMS provides realistic training to Astronauts for the landing phase of a mission.

As part of a recent trip to Johnson Space Center, I was tasked to learn as much as possible about the entire Space Shuttle Orbiter. So, in addition to the landing phase that Ames is solely responsible for, I have other tidbits of information.