Space Shuttle Simulator at the Boeing Museum of Flight.

[Satanic Mechanic]

Wow, I have to post this now in the Space History section...

Anyway, I had to do some work on the west side (or as we call it the wet side) of Washington State and I decided to go to the Boeing Museum of Flight to see the shuttle exhibit.  Because of the rigged selection system (personal bias ), Seattle got the Shuttle simulator from Houston and not the Space Shuttle Endeavour.  I finally got a chance to tour the life size simulator that taught all the astronauts.
It was a great experience and it was a piece of history.  All my questions were answered from either the docent or the control panels themselves.  The observation that stuck to my mind most was how small the decks were.  Now, I am 6' 5", but it was cramped on the main flight deck.  When you see the films and television of the shuttle, it looked like it was huge inside.
When I brought that up to the docent, he said they used a wide angle lens to make it look big.  I also thought there was a lot of space between the rear seats to the rear panel(s) that control the Canada Arm and docking thrusters, but I was wrong again.
Please don't take this review as negative.  When you see the film, read the books and the other information, you think you know the shuttle, but it is not even close.  I know there are members here on the forum that have been on or worked on the shuttles who are laughing at this post now!
But wait, the shuttle was not that small!  They also had the Soyuz TMA-14 there at the museum and if I was to sit in that, I would probably take two if not all three seats in the decent module.  The Suzuki Swift is bigger than the Soyuz Decent Module!

SM

[evancise]

Your post makes me smile, SM.  Thanks!
As an ISS guy, it was always fun to do my tours like this - Soyuz, then Shuttle, then ISS.  It really gives you a perspective on how HUGE the habitable volume of our little city in the sky truly is.
As for the rear seats - if the museum setup has the seats for both the CDR/PLT installed and also the seats for the Mission Specialists behind them, that that would be the launch and entry config.  One of the first things they did on orbit was remove and stow the rear seats.  So other than launch and entry, they had the (still not large) volume from the rear of the CDR/PLT seats to the Aft Flight Deck control panels to work with.

Really gives you pause when you see photos of 5 astronauts on the aft flight deck during rendezvous with ISS...  Definitely helps with you can fill the entire volume with bodies.

[Satanic Mechanic]

Ed,
Yes, the two back seats on main flight deck were gone.  I did not know that they were folded away and stored during orbital operations.  I always thought they were there and only the mid-deck seats were stored.  The CDR/PLT seats are still there but they do not let people sit in them.
One thing I learned from the control panels was that freon and not ammonia was used in the radiators on the bay doors for cooling.  I always thought they used ammonia for some reason.
The museum does have a mockup of the Destiny Lab Module and that is quite spacious.  Now since that module is big, I would love to see the volume in the never flown Hab module.

SM

[ijuin]

Ammonia is a more efficient coolant, but freon is less toxic to humans if any of it leaks into the cabin atmosphere. Also, the Shuttle's cooling system was developed before the Montreal protocol (which banned chlorofluorocarbons in non-critical applications), so they probably would have had to rebuild a lot of the cooling system if they had wanted to replace it with more modern refrigerants.

[evancise]

So the Orbiter actually had two thermal systems - a recirculating freon system that rejected heat via the radiators and an ammonia spray boiler system that was used when the PLBDs were closed.  I'm not a shuttle guy so I don't know the details but the NH3 was a consumable resource used only during ascent and entry/landing.  That system also had to be safed after wheel stop and is part of the reason it was dangerous  to go near the Orbiter until all the support equipment was connected.  (Anhydrous ammonia is extremely lethal.)

[ijuin]

I assume that ammonia was used as a sacrificial coolant instead of say, water, due to the low vaporization temperature? Water has a higher heat of vaporization (i.e. mass savings), but boils at a higher temperature than you would want to allow your electronics or habitable volume to reach.

[evancise]

I assume that ammonia was used as a sacrificial coolant instead of say, water, due to the low vaporization temperature? Water has a higher heat of vaporization (i.e. mass savings), but boils at a higher temperature than you would want to allow your electronics or habitable volume to reach.

Yes, I believe that's correct.
You can read a whole lot more here: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/eclss/atcs.html