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Kennedy Space Center - new ride next year


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Ummm I pretty sure this already exists, in fact I know it has because I've ridden it. Its at the "space camp" part of Kennedy Space Center, but its in the open to the public portion of the place. Your in an experemental shuttle or something, and you follow a current space shuttle into space. It goes upside down a few times, so its kinda fun, and it holds like 40 people! So yeah maybe they are building another one of those or something, dont really know.

 

Colin C

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This is something totally new to KSC and I think it's costing around $55 - $60 million. They won't really release any details, but they're building a HUGE building for the ride.

 

Don't know why they would be building a "Space Shuttle" ride when the Shuttle is going out of service in 2010.

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good thin' kennedy space centre will be havin' new rides but wanna

wish they'd not build WDW's Epcot Mission Space styled simulator

since it's got lots of death case and needa make it more safe!

 

then good luck for your space centre's mission!

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  • 3 months later...
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex plans to offer a simulated NASA shuttle launch ride starting Memorial Day weekend.

 

The attraction, called the Shuttle Launch Experience, is part of a 10-year development plan, according to information provided by the visitor complex, which also said that former astronauts helped design the attraction.

 

The ride is designed to recreate the sensation of blasting into earth's orbit.

 

 

The space center is 45 minutes from Orlando. The Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau said the ride will have a motion platform, multiple video screens, special audio effects and special-effect seats.

 

Walt Disney World has a popular ride called "Mission: Space," which opened in 2003. It spins riders in a centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity. The ride has motion sickness bags and signs warning people with heart, back and neck problems.

 

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story

 

Sounds like a possible Mission:Space clone. Nonetheless, its pretty awesome to see a thrillride attraction coming to KSC!

 

UPDATE: More info!

 

 

 

Space Shuttle Launch Experience

 

07.18.05

 

 

When the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opens the 44,000-square-foot Shuttle Launch Experience in early 2007, guests won't have to battle silly looking aliens or perform virtual-reality stunts they've seen many times before. Instead, this simulator will take guests on an incredible journey only astronauts have experienced -- launching into orbit aboard a Space Shuttle.

 

"It's not a thrill ride," said Dan LeBlanc, chief operating officer of the Visitor Complex. "You won't be dodging asteroids or battling any aliens. We have worked hard to ensure that it is as close as you can be to simulating the reality of a Space Shuttle launch within the confines of Earth's gravity."

 

Image right: Artistic concept of the Shuttle Launch Experience simulator ride. Click for larger image. Image credit: NASA

 

The Shuttle Launch Experience is the first project in a 10-year development plan for the Visitor Complex. Three veteran Shuttle astronauts, including Rick Searfoss, played a key role in designing the simulator and provided feedback to the rest of the design team. The new attraction will be located in the northwest corner of the main complex, where construction has already started. The $60 million project is funded through revenue generated by visitor admission, food and retail sales at no tax payer expense.

 

"We want people to walk out of this with their mind affected," said Searfoss, who flew three Space Shuttle missions. "This will help tell the NASA story. After they exit the ride, people will hear a presentation of the benefits the Shuttle missions have brought back to Earth."

 

The journey begins as visitors enter a gantry-styled walkway into a building architecturally inspired by Space Shuttle processing facilities at KSC. Astronaut testimonials then set the stage for what is to come, along with a technical explanation of the steps of a Space Shuttle launch.

 

Dramatic sound and lighting effects, rumbling floors and fog dramatize the moments before launch. Guests will board the mock-up Space Shuttle and strap in for launch in a unique motion simulator designed to bring the mission alive by replicating the sights, sounds, G-forces and rattle of lift-off. The sensations of launch continue as they experience Max Q, the zone where enormous forces squeeze the Shuttle, Solid Rocket Booster separation, main engine cut-off and the External Tank separation. After this experience, visitors will never view a launch in the same way.

 

"It's a pleasure to be here for many reasons, but mostly as someone who was born and raised in Central Florida, who grew up on Cocoa Beach, who watched many shots go up in the air," said Jennings. "Florida has earned its reputation as the place for space and if you look at the back of a Florida quarter, you will see it reads, 'Gateway to Discovery.' It wasn't just those Spanish galleons; it was, in fact, those launches right down the road."

 

Image left: Florida Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings discussed what the new attractions means to the state during a recent press conference at the KSC Visitor Center's Universe Theater unveiling plans for the simulator. Image credit: NASA

 

The KSC Visitor Complex's decade-long, $160 million plan will transform it into a place where all of NASA's activities around the world, and throughout the universe, can be experienced. The plan will usher in nine new exhibits, plus new and enhanced visitor amenities to bring exciting NASA projects to life.

 

New areas will include the Shuttle Launch Experience; NASA Central; NASA's Interplanetary Exploration 4-D Exhibit; Visit to the International Space Station; Origins: A Journey to the Birth of the Universe; Exploration of Our Home Planet; The Moon, Mars and Beyond; Space Shuttle Orbiter Exhibit; and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Interpretive Facility.

 

KSC Director Jim Kennedy is proud of the way the Visitor Complex shares the NASA story. "The public loves the Visitor Complex," said Kennedy. "Everything they show is inspired by real NASA initiatives and fueled by the human spirit. Over 1½-million tourists per year pass through the attraction's gates, and everything is paid for by those receipts. That speaks volumes for the public's interest in the space program."

 

For additional information, visit:

+ Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

 

Well after reading that Im not sure what to expect. They are saying NOT a thrill ride, so probably not a Mission:Space clone.. A Motion Sim perhaps?

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Welcome to TPR, redbaron314!

 

If you haven't yet, please check out our posting rules, which is in a topic that is near the top of every section in these forums.

 

One to focus on in particular would be:

 

3. SPELL CHECK YOUR POSTS!!!! There is a completely FREE spell checker available with the Google toolbar. A typo here and there is completely acceptable. We all are guilty of this. But when someone can't READ your post due to bad spelling, grammar, lack of capitalization, all caps (in posts OR thread titles) etc, that's a problem. If you aren't a good speller (and I totally admit I would be lost without my spellchecker) download it now: http://toolbar.google.com/

 

I mean this more in the grammar sense. Your spelling was perfect, it was just your grammar that needed some cleaning up a bit. I only say this because it makes posts easier and more enjoyable for everyone to read.

 

Again, welcome to TPR, we're always glad to see new faces around here!

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CoryPa77 wrote "...$55 to $60 million"

 

That, I highly doubt. Having lived in Orlando for quite some time, KSC simply does not have that kind of budget.

Think about it, even one of the most pricey thrill rides (Maverick, CP) barely cost 1\3 of that. Even "mission:space", WDW cost less than $100 million, and that ride was not only invented, by but developed by WDW over the span of 10 years!!!

 

Dan"not sure where your numbers came from" Strickland

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I'm trying really hard right now not to mention anything about love triangles, or adult diapers...

 

Seriously, this sounds interesting. I'm also wondering how similar this will be to Mission Space. MS had more of a fantasy element to it, and from the sounds of it, Kennedy's simulator is trying to go for a bit more realism.

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Dan,

 

You want to know where I came up with those numbers?

 

1) I work at KSC.

 

2) They specifically said in the press release:

 

The $60 million project is funded through revenue generated by visitor admission, food and retail sales at no tax payer expense.

 

Mission Space cost $100 million, that's $40 million more than this, so a pretty big difference.

 

That visitor center charges $40 a person for the most basic tour and most people pay $60 for the better ones. They have virtually no operating costs right now except for the tour busses. Their food is not cheap either.

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I wonder if its one of the vertical tower simulators...I saw one on TV and it was insanely impressive. However, I doubt it since that one is actually used to train pilots since its one of a kind.

 

But hey, it would be cool!

 

 

Intersting move by KSC. I should get there some time when Im in Florida again.

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CoryPa77 I apologize for doubting you, although i haven't bed to KSC in close to 5 years, i never looked at it as a "high dollar" attraction. However, as a huge aeronautics\space program fan i thouroughly enjoyed each visit to the KSC. Mission space took almost 10 yers of development as did Indiana Jones at DLC, each of which specific technology needed to be invented to allow such atractions. I automatically assumed much of Mission Space's budget was allocated for developmental\inventive purposes and the ride itself was only a small portion of the $100 million total costs. That is why i doubted the KSC attraction could cost so much. sorry.

 

Dan "now i feel like a dumb-a$$" Strickland

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My Dad is an Engineer at NASA, and knows some of the people working on this new ride. From what he has told me, this will be a motion simulator based ride (think Star Tours, NASA style) that will cost in the range of $50-60 Million. The only actual ride details he has found out is that the ride will end "with the shuttle payload bay doors opening for a magnificent view of the earth..." as he put it.

 

In the next month or two I will get to tour the construction site with my dad and some of the people working on the ride. I will be sure to post a TR and hopefully some construction pics (if they let me take any...)

 

Personally, from what I have heard so far I am not expecting anything too great but $60 Million is a lot for a motion simulator. I'll guess I'll just have to wait and see...

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