You know you are an Orbinaut when...

[Turbinator]

Does anyone know the full story behind this picture?
Bonus points to those that find the bag of space peanuts.

 

[Turbinator]

It's from a NASA URL it has to be real, just like the moon pictures, right?

 

[T.Neo]

It's some sort of simulator to allow practice of landing while still in orbit, no?

As the image loaded, the bag of nuts was the first thing I noticed.

 

[n0mad23]

Top right corner for bag o`peanuts?

I wonder what the ratio is between production costs - retail price - and transportation price for that bag of munchies?

 

[ky]

Looks sort of like Orbiter, but isn't.

 

[Cras]

It is the program that Shuttle pilots use to keep their landing skills sharp while in Orbit.

Sorry, that should be the program Shuttle pilots USED to keep their skills sharp while in orbit.

 

[GigaG]

It is the program that Shuttle pilots use to keep their landing skills sharp while in Orbit.

Sorry, that should be the program Shuttle pilots USED to keep their skills sharp while in orbit.

RIP Space Shuttle, 1981-2011

 

[SandroSalgueiro]

Sorry NASA, but Orbiter looks way better.

 

[Turbinator]

I want that joystick he is using. The one he velcro strapped to the real one.

 

[Eagle1Division]

LOL,
When I first saw it I thought - that guy has an awesome DIY rig set up! It looks just like the real thing!

I should've noticed that stuff was floating around - now THAT would be a REALLY nice rig!

Heh... Just imagine. Get a real space shuttle so that you can be fully immersed in a video game where you're flying the space shuttle xD.

Edit: Oh, and what's the thing on his left? It looks like a throttle. But the shuttle wouldn't have a manual throttle control, would it?

And the UNIV PTG looks just like the MFD from orbiter! That thing is so hard to understand. I think I like to use body vector 7 with pitch 90 and Omicron 270, or something like that, been awhile :/ .

Why would it matter how the shuttle is oriented? Do they keep the TPS towards the sun or something? But obviously not, if there's sunlight in the window...

 

[Dambuster]

Does anyone know what the buttons on the top of the joystick are for? I'd guess that the red one is for communications of some sort, but I have no idea about the hatswitch (unless the commander's feeling lazy and programmed it to control his views ).

 

[Turbinator]

If you want to build your own Shuttle Pit, here you go:

Note that these are not the actual dimensions of the interior of a real Orbiter, they have been adjusted to accommodate film set requirements. This is the same one as used in the film Space Cowboys.

 

[HAL9001]

I want that joystick he is using. The one he velcro strapped to the real one.

I'm so addicted that I first thought: Why should someone use Joysticks as stages for a velcro-rocket.

 

[cljohnston]

I want that joystick he is using. The one he velcro strapped to the real one.

Didn't Thrustmaster™ used to make a joystick that was modeled after the Shuttle's?
Checking Google... Yep, they sure did!