Beautiful interactive pictures of the space shuttle flight and lower decks.

[pslytely psycho]

A photographer with the handle Fulgurites on Kinja gave me permission to link to these marvelous hi resolution photos he made for NASA in 2001.

They were in the comments of this article:

http://gizmodo.com/how-cramped-is-it-inside-a-space-shuttle-1641247710/all

Here they are, they are a full 360 degree interactive and give you a real feel for how incredibly small the space inside actually was. (although in comparison to Apollo, it was an RV, as another poster mentioned!)

________________________________________________

Fulgurites

If you really want a good feel for it... You can check out these 50 mega-pixel images I shot for NASA back in 2001. They are about a 20 meg download each.

http://www.panoscan.com/ShuttleFlightDeck/...

http://www.panoscan.com/ShuttleLowerDeck/...

Thanks for permission to link to them! (I don't know if I actually needed permission, but hey, can't hurt to ask now can it?)

After playing KSP with RPM for so long, I find I actually understand SOME of what I am looking at!

Edited October 7, 2014 by pslytely psycho
fixed URLs......

[Camacha]

Want small? Go sit in the front seats of a small car with two people and sit there for two weeks. Don't forget to shove the sh*tty paper you used to wipe your bum behind the seat, that is an important part of the experience. Compared to that, Apollo was a dream. I mean, you could actually move and stretch and all that jazz. Kind of ironic, having so little space while going to something called space. Because of, you know, it's rather roomy up there.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Camacha

[peadar1987]

Want small? Go sit in the front seats of a small car with two people and sit there for two weeks. Don't forget to shove the sh*tty paper you used to wipe your bum behind the seat, that is an important part of the experience. Compared to that, Apollo was a dream. I mean, you could actually move and stretch and all that jazz. Kind of ironic, having so little space while going to something called space. Because of, you know, it's rather roomy up there.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSq8uZ96DvUV4ywfsS8mh-tPcYcbpECaqoGeHeiRV9cAMxcW_QsHg

What's that? Gemini?

[CaptainKipard]

What's that? Gemini?

Looks like Gemini.

Thanks for those panoramas. They're a great reference for modders.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Fingal]

Want small? Go sit in the front seats of a small car with two people and sit there for two weeks. Don't forget to shove the sh*tty paper you used to wipe your bum behind the seat, that is an important part of the experience. Compared to that, Apollo was a dream. I mean, you could actually move and stretch and all that jazz. Kind of ironic, having so little space while going to something called space. Because of, you know, it's rather roomy up there.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSq8uZ96DvUV4ywfsS8mh-tPcYcbpECaqoGeHeiRV9cAMxcW_QsHg

What happened in the Gemini spacecraft stays in the Gemini spacecraft.

[Guest]

Apollo CM had enough free space to allow even such a luxury as free-floating turds

[Brethern]

Since we're on the subject how big was the apollo capsule? I know the dimensions but that means little.

[peadar1987]

Since we're on the subject how big was the apollo capsule? I know the dimensions but that means little.

Slightly bigger than a compact car, from my recollections of seeing the Apollo 10 command module on display at the Science Museum in London.

[Brethern]

Slightly bigger than a compact car, from my recollections of seeing the Apollo 10 command module on display at the Science Museum in London.

And three men spent a week in it.

So yeah before we send men to mars let's get a bigger capsule.

[Nibb31]

And three men spent a week in it.

So yeah before we send men to mars let's get a bigger capsule.

Why? The capsule is pretty much the smallest component of a Mars transfer vehicle. It will only be used to send people to board a larger ship and to come down to Earth at the end of the trip. Orion is over engineered for that purpose.

[Tommygun]

Want small? Go sit in the front seats of a small car with two people and sit there for two weeks. Don't forget to shove the sh*tty paper you used to wipe your bum behind the seat, that is an important part of the experience. Compared to that, Apollo was a dream. I mean, you could actually move and stretch and all that jazz. Kind of ironic, having so little space while going to something called space. Because of, you know, it's rather roomy up there.

I spent two weeks every year with four people in an unaircondition Datsun/Nissan 210 as a kid, traveling through Death Valley, Arizona and south Texas.

They called it summer vacation.

Pfff......astronauts have it easy.

[Camacha]

Since we're on the subject how big was the apollo capsule? I know the dimensions but that means little.

A lot better than Gemini, but still not what you'd call ideal for three people. The fact that they could fold the crew couch did help though. Size wise you could imagine something like a cubicle tapering towards the top and with all sorts of stuff stuck to the walls.

I spent two weeks every year with four people in an unaircondition Datsun/Nissan 210 as a kid, traveling through Death Valley, Arizona and south Texas.

They called it summer vacation.

Pfff......astronauts have it easy.

I paid my dues when is comes to road trips too, but the downside of going to space is that stepping out for some air generally results in rather annoyed travel companions, among other things.

Which reminds me, Gemini had this wonderful system of decompressing the whole cabin when doing an EVA. Both astronauts donned spacesuits and just opened the door. The Apollo LM did the same on the moon, you really need to be sure both suits and cabin pressurisation will work at the moment you need them to work. Although I guess that goes for a fair amount of other systems too.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Camacha

[Nibb31]

I spent two weeks every year with four people in an unaircondition Datsun/Nissan 210 as a kid, traveling through Death Valley, Arizona and south Texas.

They called it summer vacation.

Pfff......astronauts have it easy.

Did you have to poop in the car?

[Nibb31]

Which reminds me, Gemini had this wonderful system of decompressing the whole cabin when doing an EVA. Both astronauts donned spacesuits and just opened the door. The Apollo LM did the same on the moon, you really need to be sure both suits and cabin pressurisation will work at the moment you need them to work. Although I guess that goes for a fair amount of other systems too.

The Apollo CM and Orion also have that capability for EVA. Soyuz sort of could do EVA from the orbital module, but it's no longer practical (lots of stuff in the way and no hand rails outside). The lack of EVA capability is one of the main reasons why the Commercial Crew vehicles are not adequate for exploration.

[Tommygun]

Does anyone know if this gray beam thing in the lower deck is part of the manual bailout system?

Did you have to poop in the car?

I came close several times.

[lincourtl]

Does anyone know if this gray beam thing in the lower deck is part of the manual bailout system?

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj133/tomweave/Misc/0Shuttlebelowdeck.png

Yes, I think so. See here.

The escape pole is constructed of aluminum and steel. The arched housing for the pole is 126.75 inches long and is attached to the middeck ceiling above the airlock hatch and at the 2 o'clock position at the side hatch for deployment during launch and entry. The escape pole telescopes from the middeck housing through the side hatch in two sections. The primary extension is 73 inches long, and the end extension is 32 inches long. The diameter of the housing is 3.5 inches. The two telescoping sections are slightly smaller in diameter. The escape pole weighs approximately 241 pounds-248 pounds with attachments.

On orbit, the escape pole's primary stowage position requires unpinning the escape pole at the starboard and port attachments, rotating the pole so it is flat against the middeck ceiling and strapping it to the ceiling. An alternate on-orbit stowage approach also requires unpinning the escape pole at the starboard and port attachments, rotating it so it is flat against the middeck ceiling and strapping it to the ceiling.