This sim seems to be a well kept secret. It's hardcore enough to please that crowd, and scalable enough to please the sim lite crowd. I can't believe it has such a small audience. For a NASA nut like me, it's well worth the $50. I hope they release the most recent shuttle mission, STS-126 soon.
Anyways, on with the show. Let me know if I'm breaking the rules by posting too many images at once.
Main engine start a little over T -5 seconds.
We really start shaking at T -0. SRB ignition.
"Roll program, Houston!"
View from someone watching on the ground.
"Go at throttle down." Mach 1.18 at 24,000 feet.
"Go at throttle up." Now we really start hauling as the engines throttle up to 104% and we zip through the thinner upper atmosphere.
Discovery leaving the Cape behind.
"Pc less than 50," as indicated on the OPS CRT displays (only the newer glass cockpit is modeled). The low pressure in the SRBs indicates they will burn out shortly.
"SRB sep, Houston."
The twin SRB's plunge back down to the ocean below us.
"
Discovery, Houston. Negative return." If we have to abort now it will be a TAL abort to Zaragosa, Spain.
Going for velocity rather than altitude now to get us into orbit.
"Prepare for MECO." Main engine cutout in seven seconds. You can see the three main engines throttling down to keep us within our 3G structural limit.
"MECO on schedule." We come out of our seats a little as we transition to weightlessness.
A few seconds later, the ET is blow off with a WHUMP and our RCS jets fire to ensure separation from the external tank.
The computers fire our RCS jets to bring us into the proper attitude for our OMS circ burn coming up in some forty minutes at orbital apoapsis. Because of the high altitude of the Hubble telescope (relative to other shuttle missions, I believe Hubble missions are still the highest the shuttle goes) it will be a relatively long five minute burn. We also perform post ascent housekeeping procedures: venting unused MPS propellant, activating various heaters, shutting down the APUs, etc.
More later this weekend, seeing as we're snowed/iced in.
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