High-res cockpit view of space shuttle

ZoopyFunk

#1 – 11:46 AM January 27, 2009

Ummmm, exactly who 'shopped the stars into the image, and why? Every psychonaut knows that you can't see the stars from space. Well, at least not when you are looking at the earth. Looking at the high res version, its a damn hack job. The stars are HUGE. The image has a high amount of noise, that's a bit odd too, but could be for tech/security reasons? Wait...the flash was way off camera, wtf is going on here?

Anonymous Anonymous

#2 – 11:56 AM January 27, 2009

Well isn't it obvious? The whole thing is staged in an effort to throw off the Russians. Those pictures were taken on a Hollywood back lot, you can even see the wires! No, I'd say from this pic that it's pretty obvious that we've never been to space .. flat earthers unite!

dculberson

#3 – 12:01 PM January 27, 2009

Maybe it's a long exposure, without flash, that made the image noisy and made the stars appear to be large due to the shuttle's movement.

holtt

#4 – 12:05 PM January 27, 2009

So what you're saying Zoopy is you can tell by the pixels? :D

This is a mockup image to show the new (at the time) cockpit layout I believe.

ZoopyFunk

#5 – 12:06 PM January 27, 2009

Well, you can see the shadow from the flash(which looks like it was hand held on the left side of the camera, and compared to other images from the shuttle, there is never any noise. They use a Nikon D3 and a Hasselblad! And, you would most definitely not be able to see the stars while looking at the earth. No way, no how, no. I feel the mystery will never be solved.

Gary61

#6 – 12:07 PM January 27, 2009

Where's the GPS nav-screen? Do the seatbacks have DVD flatscreens? Where do they plug in their iPods?

ZoopyFunk

#7 – 12:15 PM January 27, 2009

Holtt-

You may be right. However, if this was from 'at the time', then this would have to be scanned from film, which explains the film grain. The universe(I prefer Multiverse) was added digitally later I guess.

Chris Furniss

#8 – 12:41 PM January 27, 2009

Man. We're sending actual humans into space with this hunk of junk. There's like... dials and knobs and shit everywhere. Where's the touch screen? Where's the Apple-esque futuristic design! STEP IT UP NASA.

Wait, what's that about funding? Oh.

Ray Cornwall

#9 – 1:05 PM January 27, 2009

Get Steve Jobs in there, and that dashboard will be down to three buttons and a slider dial.

bbonyx

#10 – 1:20 PM January 27, 2009

Go with throttle up.

yri

#11 – 1:27 PM January 27, 2009

The 'shop job is incomplete; still needs fuzzy dice, a couple of plastic dinosaurs on the dash, and a latte in a cup holder.

howaboutthisdangit

#12 – 2:50 PM January 27, 2009

#3: You would have to mask out the earth, or it would wash out the stars at any exposure setting.

I suspect it is a mock up.

I like how the NASA page states, "The new cockpit is expected to be installed on all shuttles in the NASA fleet by 2002...." As opposed to, say, the Romulan fleet? How many other fleets could use a space shuttle cockpit?

#9: Yeah, but you could only fly it on Apple approved missions. Anyway, it's expensive enough as it is.

Digital Artz

#13 – 3:34 PM January 27, 2009

It's an old British washing machine.

SamSam

#14 – 4:33 PM January 27, 2009

#12: Erm, there are other space fleets besides NASA. Granted, most have only one manned space vehicle, so it would be a stretch to call them "fleets," but certainly the ESA and the upcoming Kliper program will have fleets with the need for cockpits...

soupisgoodfood

#15 – 7:43 PM January 27, 2009

@6,8,9: If I was floating about in orbit in a space shuttle, I know I'd rather have some good ol' reliable dials and switches, rather than rely only the latest, fancy UI technology.

RedShirt77

#16 – 8:00 PM January 27, 2009

#12

#9: Yeah, but you could only fly it on Apple approved missions. Anyway, it's expensive enough as it is.

In relationship to their overall budget isn't a few hundred thousand for a nice computer and a user friendly interface a bargain.

Unless of course you did it on windows and you had to click through five or six vista approval screens to say lower the landing gear or fire some boosters.

"I am sorry, I can't do that Dave."

cam123

#17 – 3:47 AM January 28, 2009

Is it true that in space a person is not able to see stars all around them like we do here on Earth?

No, I hear that in space the stars look wonderful, bright (although not twinkling) and very clear. What has probably caused some of this confusion is that in the typical photo or video image from space, there aren't any stars. This is because the stars are much dimmer than the astronaut, Moon, space station, or whatever the image is been taken of. It is extremely hard to get the exposure correct to show the stars. Luckily, the human eye handles the different light levels much better than a camera does.

Dr. Eric Christian
(July 2001)

Hamish MacDonald

#18 – 5:37 AM January 28, 2009

So where does the key go?

Zan

#19 – 6:00 AM January 28, 2009

@CAM123:
You can see stars in orbit when you're facing away from both the Earth and the Sun. If either is in view, your eyes lose their night-vision ability and you cannot make out any stars (although brighter planets such as Venus or Jupiter may be visible).

As for the photo, by guess is that it was taken in one of the simulators before the glass cockpit was installed in the Shuttles.

ethancoop

#20 – 7:54 AM January 28, 2009

All those buttons and switches... how much real control do they have over the craft anyway? I'd just assumed it was mostly automated, but maybe I'm wrong. I admittedly don't know much about the operation of the shuttle, anyone care to educate me?

jeffbell

#21 – 9:46 AM January 28, 2009

May favorite part has always been the hex keypad.

Chas44

#22 – 4:01 PM January 28, 2009

#20, yeah, it's all automated. Just like an airliner cockpit. Capt Chesley Sullenberger just punched a button and his Airbus splashed down into the Hudson. On the Space Shuttle, same thing. OMG.

Chris Brewer

#23 – 11:13 PM January 28, 2009

While we're being all anal-retentive, the correct title for this store should be "High-res cockpit view of NASA Orbiter". Only the fully-assembled vehicle at take-off is the "Space Shuttle". The plane-like object that the astros travel in is called the orbiter because it's the part that does the orbiting around our small blue marble.

Anonymous Anonymous

#24 – 8:40 PM August 12, 2009

WHERE'S THE DRINK HOLDER?

Anonymous Anonymous

#25 – 1:10 AM August 13, 2009

if this was from 'at the time', then this would have to be scanned from film, which explains the film grainThe plane-like object that the astros travel in is called the orbiter because it's the part that does the orbiting around our small blue marble.
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Andrew Frame

#26 – 12:38 PM September 30, 2009

Dear Sir,
I have written a children's story about a chipmunk who strays on to a space shuttle. It is to be published by Strategic Books. I would like
your permission to use this photo in the book.
Thanks.

Rob Beschizza

#27 – 1:15 PM September 30, 2009

Pic is NASA's.