Are You Ready To Rumble?

CAPE CANAVERAL — Even though I’ve covered nearly 90 shuttle launches for the Tribune, I’ve never flown into orbit on the rumble and roll of 7 million pounds of thrust.

So before Atlantis blasted off earlier this month, I stopped by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to see, hear and feel the next best thing: the Shuttle Launch Experience.

I’m not much for rides, much less theme parks. There was a stomach-turning jaunt on the SheiKra roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa last week, but only because the boss needed an expendable body. This time, I was on my own, and curious about how anything — no matter how elaborate or expensive — could remotely match an astronaut’s eight-minute fight against gravity.

Well, the new $60 million simulation earns its wings. The experience is chock-full of visceral intensity without being over the top on glitz. Informative and entertaining, it does a good job of prepping visitors on the nuts-and-bolts physics of a typical shuttle flight.

Three years in the making, the Shuttle Launch Experience was designed with the help of astronauts who know launches first-hand. One of those — veteran shuttle commander Charlie Bolden — acts as cyber-host, and his lively narrative sets the stage for the fun to come.

The journey begins outside the building as visitors ascend along a gantry, watching astronaut testimonials on a series of overhead video screens. Then, everyone enters a large circular room — the Simulation Facility — for their preflight briefing.

Lots of the technical details unfold during the countdown, and Bolden explains the forces at work as a 4.5-million-pound machine spits fire, roars off the pad and zips through the atmosphere.

The briefing includes plenty of impressive visuals and geek speak: the hydrogen spark shower that burns off volatile gases on the pad; the shuttle’s sudden "twang" movement after main engine ignition; the "throttle-down" action that equalizes aerodynamic forces; the explosive separation of the twin boosters; and, finally, the release of the giant external tank. High-definition plasma screens, audio, flashing lights and clouds of carbon dioxide lend drama to the moment.

Then, it’s into the belly of the beast. After our briefing, the crowd divided into seven lines, each entering an open door leading to a 44-seat crew cabin in a shuttle payload bay. Anyone with second thoughts about the rigors of the ride is asked to leave and take a seat in the observation deck.

Once strapped in for launch, the countdown clock passes the 60-second mark, and things start to get loud. The heart races at T-minus 10 seconds, and the room begins to vibrate when Bolden announces "We have main engine start!" As the solid rocket boosters ignite, we’re off the ground, and the whole place pitches upward at a 70-degree incline. Pneumatic seats create the tug of G forces.

Our ascent is like being in a giant blender, and the roar of burning fuel as intoxicating as the feel of a shrinking Florida far below. With the shuttle struggling to reach escape velocity — 17,500 mph — we hit "Max Q," the zone where enormous forces put the most stress on craft and crew. At this point, Bolden reminds everyone of the ill-fated men and women of Challenger, which exploded 73 seconds into its flight on a cold, grim day in January 1986.

Just past the 2-minute mark, a large overhead screen shows the solid rockets separating with a loud blast, and our ride continues on pace well over the Atlantic Ocean. "Negative return," Bolden announces, referring to a point in the flight when the shuttle must commit either to orbit or an emergency landing site overseas.

As the shuttle drinks the last of its liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel, it releases the big orange gas tank over the Indian Ocean. Within seconds, we slip into a near horizontal trajectory and the seats push us forward to simulate the weightlessness of low-Earth orbit. Suddenly, all is calm and quiet.

Then, in a final flourish, the payload bay doors swing open to reveal a beautiful blue-and-white Earth, slowly turning against a star-sprinkled night sky. The sight is breathtaking, and while the 12-minute journey is all illusion, it spins a delightful trick on the senses.

Most of us will never ride on Atlantis, Discovery or Endeavour or know the thrill of leaving the cradle of our home planet. But this simulated shuttle has a distinct advantage over its real counterparts, one that even the best minds at NASA couldn’t pull off: Launches are always on time.

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com

Shuttle Launch Experience WHERE: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, State Road 405, six miles inside the KSC compound WHEN: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily HOW MUCH: Included with admission to complex, $38 ($28 for children ages 3 to 11) INFORMATION: (321) 449-4444 or www.kennedyspacecenter.com