NASA - Public Visits the Shuttle Launch Experience

Flying into space is an adventure only a select few will ever experience. But the U.S. space agency, NASA, is now offering visitors to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida the excitement of spaceflight without ever leaving the ground.

For the first time, ordinary people can experience the sensations of soaring into space on board the Shuttle Launch Experience.

This 4,000 square meter attraction opened in May and has attracted thrill-seekers from all over the world.

But this is no ordinary amusement park ride. Shuttle astronauts and ride engineers spent three years designing the attraction to ensure that it accurately simulates the reality of a space shuttle launch, within the limitations of Earth's gravity.

As the seat belt harnesses click into place, the passengers are no longer ordinary civilians; they are temporarily NASA astronauts. These lucky cadets are able to experience the thrill of a shuttle launch without years of astronaut training. This $60 million attraction provides riders with the closest thing to actually flying on a shuttle.

As the mission comes to a close and the passengers return to Earth, they have a better idea of what blasting into space is like.

In the past 25 years, NASA has flown over a hundred shuttle launches. The Shuttle Launch Experience is its first attempt to offer ordinary people the chance to experience lifting off into space.

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• NASA
• Space
• Shuttle
• Science
• Kennedy
• Florida
• spaceflight
• science
• spacecraft

[newry123]

@FLPanthersandMarlins

i was on this in july 2010 ,wasn,t impressed at all, all it did was shaked the life out of you

[FLPanthersandMarlins]

That ride Soarin' though not in any way related to space travel is pretty realisitic to flying as well.

[tylyn122122]

i went on that. it was so cool. you can feel 4-gs pressing on you and the simulator sits straight up too!!

[hhh5hbk5dx54]

I went on this one and it was so realistic. When we reached 3G's I could barely lift my head up. The ride at Epcot, Mission Space was amazing too.

[redstone1963]

This is a great ride!I would agree that the launch simulation ride at Epcot is very realistic as well.

[asdLINDSAYjkl]

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[Icedpopsicle]

its pretty cool i went on it today but i hate the shaking but its ok

[adornobunch]

Yup, no problem. I went in November with my class, It was funny because i was freaking out before. I was like "mommy", lol. My friends were cracking up. but it was really fun, so anyway you're welcome.

[WrasslinRyan]

Hey thanks for that, I went in April and we was fine on the ride. Thanks all the same

[adornobunch]

wrasslinryan i know im a lil late ut they do lol