The Ultimate Space Ride Opens To The Public

We knew it was coming. And we knew we were excited. It was going to go beyond anything Disney had to offer and we couldn't wait.

Finally, the $60 million, 44,000-square foot, privately-funded adventure ride opened to the public Friday, giving visitors a simulated look inside the space shuttle - from astronaut training, to the force of 3Gs astronauts feel while strapped into the crew cabin.

Originally reported by ANN in February, the Shuttle Launch Experience (SLE) is NASA's first project to attract theme-park ride customers to any of their space tourist facilities.

Along with the SLE, new NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) exhibits include NASA Central, NASA's Interplanetary Exploration 4-D Exhibit, Visit to the International Space Station, Origins: A Journey to the Birth of the Universe, and Exploration of Our Home Planet.

What makes this ride so different from theme park rides, reported Gannett News Service, is that it was designed and developed with the help of astronauts, test pilots and NASA experts, so that Kennedy Space Center visitors would get a real sense of what a real shuttle launch feels like.

Prior officially opening to the public, 39 space shuttle veterans were on hand to experience the ride, and, by golly, they said it felt a lot like the real thing.

"It's very realistic. It's as good as anything I've trained on. It's spectacular," said Charlie Bolden, a veteran of four shuttle missions, who like most of his fellow astronauts showed up for the ceremony clad in his blue flight suit.

Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and Al Worden who flew Apollo missions said they were thrilled to get a taste of a shuttle blast-off.

But for $60 million, it isn't very impressive from the outside. Heck, it's a big, gray box.

But as your mother always told you, it's not what you see that counts, it's what's inside.

Would-be astronauts watch educational videos that run throughout the attraction, placed in the winding passage outside that leads them to an inside "briefing area," where four groups of 44 receive a pre-launch briefing from Bolden on giant projection screens on what their mission entails and what they can expect, AFP News described.

A rumbling floor, a fog machine and dramatic light effects set the mood for a voyage into orbit.

Once passengers are strapped in, countdown begins, engines roar to life, and the cabin leans backward as vibration generators and seat compression systems cause riders to sink back into their seats.

The effects trick passengers into feeling the G-forces that mark the initial moments of a space voyage, a sensation that culminates when the vehicle reaches Max-Q, the zone where pressure on the space vehicle reaches its maximum.

In a somber voice, Boden tells travelers, "It was at this moment we lost the Challenger in 1986, so this is always a thoughtful moment."

The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven astronauts.

 A sudden jolt rattles the simulator as a screen shows the two solid rocket boosters being jettisoned. Then an eerie silence fills the simulator as the craft shuts off its main engines and shifts from three-Gs to zero gravity upon reaching its orbital glide.

The module pitches forward causing passengers to feel as though they are floating weightlessly.

Searfoss said that's his favorite part. "For about a second, it's exactly the same as we feel in the space shuttle. It's almost a tumbling kind of feeling."

At the end of the voyage, the shuttle's bay doors open to reveal a spectacular view of the Earth from 200 miles.

"That takes me back to the best part of a space flight, seeing our planet," says Searfoss.

Searfoss and Bolden maintain the ride is similar to simulators astronauts train on in Houston, with more vibration, noise, and other effects, but minus the stomach-churning roller-coaster effect.

You have Searfoss to thank for the reality of the experience; he was the test pilot.

"I would hop aboard their mockup and they would tweak and change and adjust the vibrations and the shaking and the sounds and so forth. We did that hundreds of times."

Dan Cuffe, an expert in amusement rides was among the first to try the simulator and shared the astronauts' enthusiasm.

"You really feel the G-forces, it's very realistic," says Cuffe.

About 1.5 million people visit the KSC Visitors Center each year.

FMI: www.kennedyspacecenter.com