Q&A: Space Shuttle Trainier set to make its Seattle debut

shuttlenose

On Saturday, the Space Shuttle Trainer will make its official debut at the Museum of Flight in Seattle — giving the public an up-close look at the full-sized Space Shuttle replica that served as the training ground for every astronaut in the Space Shuttle’s three decades. The museum and the region have been preparing for this milestone for… Read More…

Podcast: Space Shuttle Trainer and beyond, with Museum of Flight CEO Doug King

dougking2

A week from today, on Nov. 10, the Space Shuttle Trainer will make its official debut at the Museum of Flight in Seattle — giving the public an up-close look at the full-sized Space Shuttle replica that served as the training ground for every astronaut in the Space Shuttle’s three decades. The museum and the region… Read More…

Museum of Flight lands trove of personal papers from NASA icon George Abbey

Former NASA Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey at the JSC ceremony handing over the "keys" to the space shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer to The Museum of Flight in January, 2012. (Ted Huetter/Museum of Flight)

They arrived at Seattle’s Museum of Flight in more than 100 boxes — nearly four decades worth of personal papers from George Abbey, the Seattle native and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center who was a key figure behind the Apollo program, the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle program and many other landmark… Read More…

The Super Guppy has landed: Scenes from the delivery of our Space Shuttle replica

guppyx

Updated at bottom with picture of the crew compartment after it was unwrapped. We (and our kids) had a great time today down at the Museum of Flight, where NASA’s freakishly cool Super Guppy cargo plane delivered the crew compartment of the Full Fuselage Trainer — the replica Space Shuttle orbiter that will have a… Read More…

Space Nerds Rejoice! The Super Guppy is on its way

superguppy

Calling all space-exploration enthusiasts, aerospace aficionados and other flight geeks: the Museum of Flight announced today that a vital piece of its full-scale Space Shuttle Trainer, the crew cabin section, will arrive June 30 via the NASA plane dubbed the “Super Guppy.” Personally, we were kind of hoping that NASA would’ve come up with something more… Read More…

First piece of Seattle’s Space Shuttle Trainer arrives

ss4

Seattle’s Museum of Flight today unpacked the first piece of its new Space Shuttle Trainer, unveiling one of three engine bells from the full-scale orbiter replica, which was used as a simulator to train every astronaut since the 1970s. First impression: This is going to bigger than I had imagined. The replica engine bell alone… Read More…

Space Shuttle Day: Seattle gets peek at trainer as Discovery descends on D.C.

trainersmall

It’s a big day for space nerds. On the East Coast today, Space Shuttle Discovery is making its final flight this morning – going from Florida to Washington, D.C., on the back of a Boeing 747, to a new home at the Smithsonian. And later this morning in Seattle, officials at the Museum of Flight will take… Read More…

Q&A: Charles Simonyi on the magic of space and the ‘coziness’ of the trip home

Charles Simonyi (GeekWire File Photo)

Seattle’s Museum of Flight this week dedicated its new Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, named after the former Microsoft engineer and two-time space traveler. When it opens this June, the new gallery will house a Soyuz capsule in which Simonyi returned to Earth for the second time, given to the museum by Simonyi on a long-term… Read More…

Congratulations, Seattle: You’re getting a space toilet

Charles Simonyi (GeekWire File Photo)

It just kept getting better and better at Seattle’s Museum of Flight today. First former, Microsoft engineer Charles Simonyi announced that he would be donating the Soyuz TMA-13 Reentry Module that returned him safely to Earth after his second trip to the International Space Station. He’ll be making the spacecraft available on a long-term loan to… Read More…

Wash. governor to NASA: We’re ready for Space Shuttle, while L.A. and NYC futz around

Atlantis lifts off. (NASA photo)

NASA’s selection of new homes for the retired Space Shuttles has been more than a little messy. The space agency’s own inspector general found multiple mistakes in the selection process, but NASA insisted that it didn’t affect the outcome. Seattle’s Museum of Flight, which came up just short of landing one of the Space Shuttles, recently raised… Read More…