Orbiter in your life

[Sar]

I in general don't advertise my interests in science to other people, my closest friends and wife are probably the only people who actually know that I'm actually not that dump at all.

This sometimes leads into a rather funny looks that I get when people ask something somewhat mundane without expecting me to answer. For instance one of my coworkers was wondering out loud why the tomato was so hot in her fried bread and the bread wasn't that hot at all. So I explained to her that they actually are both hot, but the tomato conducts heat better due to being mostly water which density is higher than the breads.

I'm probably the only person in my life (wife not included) that has other interests than next friday at a bar.

 

[Mojave]

I spoke to a friend on an FSX forum about orbiter, and he tried it out. I think he alos joined this forum awhile back, but this was last year.

I finally got my sister interested in orbiter, and she read Go Play In Space, so she might become an orbinaut sometime.

 

[Eli13]

Good to hear it! :thumbup:

 

[HAL9001]

The average people dislikes Orbiter, because they think it's a game. A friend of mine asked me "how many levels are in this game?", "no enemies?"
They do not know the diference betwen a game and a simulator. And Orbiter is a simulator.
One day, someone said: "You are accelerating forward, but the ship is moving backward, is that a bug of the simulator?" :rofl:
(I was executing a deorbit burn)

It's the same for me...

 

[ky]

there is a kid that TOOK orbiter from my folder on a computer at my school lol.

 

[Eli13]

Well, what does he do with it?

 

[Keatah]

there is a kid that steals orbiter from my folder on a computer at my school lol.

How, pray tell, can you steal Orbiter? It is available for free download. You can't really steal something that's available to everyone for free.

So I would assume he made a copy then deleted it? Like a move operation? Or does he just copy it?

Please clarify, this is important.

 

[HAL9001]

How, pray tell, can you steal Orbiter? It is available for free download. You can't really steal something that's available to everyone for free.

So I would assume he made a copy then deleted it? Like a move operation? Or does he just copy it?

Please clarify, this is important.

yes, we don't want this again :dry:

 

[cymrych]

It's like a Chess game for me. You know, come to think of it, none of my friends can handle board games like Chess that require any depth of thought either, yet they love first person shooters, console games, Farmville, Angry Birds, and Guitar Hero.... This probably says something.

Think you got something here, Blacklight. My peers are fellow field archaeologists, which almost by definition means someone not destined to ever work a normal 9 to 5 job, and generally stray away from pop-culture influence. So I've gotten a lot of "wow, neat" and "that's pretty cool" type comments from my friends .... but not enough interest to really do much more than watch me for five minutes then change the conversation.

BUT, the two people I have succeeded in getting to try Orbiter with any true conviction were also the only 2 people I can play a round of chess or risk with.

I think the people that can really appreciate and enjoy Orbiter to the fullest are the ones who do get particular with the details, who like the challenge of figuring out a highly complex set of variables in order to achieve a desired result. Like in chess, it definitely requires a strategy. The only real difference is that in chess its all about getting your opponent to do what you want, while in Orbiter your ship, mfd, cfg file, launch program, etc, aren't opponents (although they may feel like it sometimes!)

 

[Eli13]

Honestly, most kids our age, no matter their maturity or intelligence, just aren't that interested in space flight. I mean, sure I bet if they were offered to see a shuttle launch they'd "Yeah sure I'll go!" but they think its pretty straight forward to go to anywhere in the universe. Well, I thought that, but i decided I should learn how to do it properly. Still learning, and I think we all will through out our time with orbiter.

 

[diogom]

Honestly, most kids our age, no matter their maturity or intelligence, just aren't that interested in space flight. I mean, sure I bet if they were offered to see a shuttle launch they'd "Yeah sure I'll go!" but they think its pretty straight forward to go to anywhere in the universe.

Try asking them who was Yuri Gagarin or what is the ISS. :thumbup:

 

[Eli13]

"Uhhhhhh..... that guy!" "The ISS is ummm the International Something Something." :rofl:

 

[diogom]

It is quite shamefull when thousands of American kids don't know where the Space Shuttle, one of the greatest acomplishments of their country, goes (I mean, where in space). Of course, I don't live there, so I don't know how the situation is there (correct me if I'm wrong), but I see from posts here that unfortunately it's how it is.
I had quite a surprise last week, though. You know those vocational tests you make in 9th grade? I put on a "list what you would like to do" thing, some months ago, Astronaut in 1st place, just for the heck of it (I didn't know at the time that the entire class would want to see each others choices) since what I'd like is to be a pilot, either commercial or Air Force. Much to my surprise, instead of the feared embarrasement, only a comment or two. Certainly wasn't expecting that. Of course I have second intentions with being a pilot. Gain flight experience, and apply for ESA :thumbup:.

 

[Eli13]

Sounds like me, cept with the military and instead of ESA, NASA. But the way its all going here, might as well go to SpaceX...

 

[Eli13]

Yeah, I wowed some kids by showing I could go from WIN to KSC in under 15 minutes (It wasn't my cleanest sub-orb flight ever ). They only cared that I could go that far, that fast.

 

[Winters24]

ya know, I admit Im more on the visual and 'getting there" side of gaming and less of planning all my flights and everything. But I still love all the scientific aspects and everything of Orbiter because its how you get there ya know? And I think the more difficult and complicated the "how" is makes actually doing it and everything working perfectly so much more rewarding. Like the ship Im making, Ive had SO much trouble with it but the first time I reached orbit with it and watched a sunset in something I made made it SO much more beautiful. I guess what Im saying is I love the visuals AND all the internals and I think neither can be complete without the other. I think most people just dont want to take the time to learn all the orbital maneuvers and launch aspects to get where they want.

But thats just my opinion
If you actually took the time to read all that, thank you!

 

[Keatah]

I got talking to a real nutcase, he stated, without a doubt, that there were secret engines on the space shuttle. These engines would allow the shuttle to collect the HST and fly it to other parts of the galaxy. And that is how it could get all these pictures. He cited proof by showing me all sorts of dust clouds that could get in the way and stuff like that. He also said that's why they're taking the shuttles apart before shipping them to the museums. And that's the whole purpose of the ISS, to act as a fuel depot for the shuttle.

What else could I do but agree with the guy? Clearly a lesson in the capabilities of the shuttle was going to be beyond my capabilities.

While I researching to be certain he was wrong, I came across some notes and things on the computing power on HST.

It originally launched with a DF-224, and after the first svc mission, it got a set of 80386/80387 chips as a tacked-on co-processor.

Sometime after that, it got upgraded to a 80486 25MHz.

Anyone know what HST is running now? I mean for the main spacecraft bus, as I'm sure the instruments are running with their own embedded cpu cores.

 

[chobolatom]

Well, I'm around them I have no interest in who the universe, except that my Grandpa owned a telescope. (do not understand it and I hate when someone says that the universe is boring!) Jdnou I asked my friend if he wants to play Orbiter, said he did. I was quite happy but after he looked at inactive gameplay videos, he said he did not play a game that has worse graphics than the Google Earth Flight Simulator and it's basically the same. Then when I showed him the video, where I fly around the Moon, told me that it's boring watching a couple of green lines from black! How can anyone say this! I really do not understand. So they are left alone, who are interested in space and I can talk about it eration. At least one orbiter! :-D

 

[NukeET]

When I first found Orbiter in March 2006, I was then playing with Eagle Lander 3D (which could only simulate the Apollo lunar missions - and only those portions that happened in lunar orbit), I was elated that I could fully simulate an entire Apollo mission. As my 1st blog entry states, "I was hopelessly hooked".

I have spent most of my life being aware that most of the other people around me aren't as smart - certainly not rocket scientist smart. I had to learn at an early age to recognize that "deer in the headlights" stare in other's eyes when I got too zealous or detailed in my descriptions of the way stuff works...and dial it back a little at times. Then I found the Orbiter community...and now I feel I've found home.

Since finding Orbiter, I've tried sharing it with friends and co-workers, and have only found one interested enough to even try it. Orbiter isn't the first topic, but I bring it up when the person has related that he enjoys video games and is extremely computer literate.

Simulations, as a genre, aren't all that popular with most gamers because, IMO, there's a learning curve (or too steep), too much detail...etc. It is though most of them suffer, IMO, from some degree of AADD. Or, they shirk from the realization that they actually have to "plan" something to achieve goals.

The one person who even tried it, while growing up, was the first of my son's friends to get the latest and greatest gaming console as soon as they hit the market. This person also showed early aptitude with computers and is very gifted musically too. By the time he asked me for help with an Orbiter scenario, he had successfully gotten the stock DG into orbit. (You know you're addicted to Orbiter when...)

He stayed with Orbiter another week or two...he didn't quite get how to set up a orbital rendezvous with another spacecraft, so it lost interest for him. I haven't bother to bring up that topic with him anymore...some people just aren't cut out for it.

As far as what others think of Orbiter...I don't really care. We're all blessed with different talents...this one is mine.

 

[luki1997a]

First time when I saw orbiter, I was playing with Celestia(2008 or '09). When I saw it, I thought: Hmm, I can fly space shuttle? So, I'll download it. I've downloaded(with some errors) and istalled and I saw white Earth with some strange ships. I've deleted it BUT a ~month later I thought: Hmm there was something wrong and downloaded it again. Now there weren't any problems except configuration(so I made a tutorials few years later: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIzcBShU8-Y"]YouTube - Orbiter 2010 P1 MSI installation & configuration[/ame]). My knowledge of space physics was about zero. I thought that every ship in space always have running engines, and to come back to earth, space shuttle just "aims" on earth and after few seconds it is back:facepalm::facepalm:. Now everyday in my life contains something about Orbiter. My every friend says "Turn it off, or I'll go back to home". I want to show a flight from earth to moon, and you know what:lol:... In school: Wow I'm fascinated of gravitational pull of Jupiter, which completly changes my orbit friend: Omg you're strange. Stop talking about it! When I go on holidays I'm thinking what I'll do in Orbiter(TransX! Space Shuttle! Earth to Moon!). I think that, Orbiter is a part of my life that can easily bring me to sucess in future(I want to work in nasa ohh dreams..:lol. The Orbiter is something that fits only to people with a target in life. For everybody in my class, strange part of me is that I love space flights and I'm always talking about Orbiter. But who doesn't talk about his favourite something?

Orbiter- something I must have before.(or earlier)
Hail probe!