Orbiter Spaceport

VS-40 rocket launch: Launch test of my VS-40 sounding rocket add-on for Orbiter Space Flight Simulator. It features a complete surface base, detailed textures with normal-maps and accurate flight behaviour programmed in LUA, including roll induced by the tail fins. Buran aerotester virtual cockpit:  Working instrument implementation using LUA scripting in Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

Besides the  well know Kennedy Space Center or Baikonur launch sites, there are many other such places around the world. Some of them aren't used for rocket launches, it they played an important role in space history, or are part of current aerospace activities. As part of the development of my Orbiter stock bases upgrade add-on, I've done some research regarding this sometimes little know sites. My objective was to provide high resolution surface tiles for each base and to represent, using the stock base objects, the main structures present. I'll share here some interesting places I discovered. Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP), (also known as Las Palmas Airport) was an official alternative (emergency) landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle.Also nearby is the Gran Canaria drop zone , an air-launched rocket drop zone, located lat/long 27.0, -15.3. Runways: 03L/21R : 10,171 x 148 ft (3,100 x 45 m) — paved — lighted 03R/21L : 10,171 x 148 ft...

The ESA Hermes space shuttle project ran from 1975 to 1992, after an original proposal from the French CNES (National Space Studies Center). The spacecraft was intended to serve two proposed  European  space stations:  the Man Tended Free-Flyer / Columbus Space Station and the Polar Platform. Before cancellation, some mock-ups and trainers were built.   Because the project was developed in the 1980's there aren't many reference photos on the web.  I'm taking the liberty of posting the all the images I could find on the web  of the Hermes interior, cockpit and instrument panels. This way they are grouped all  together in a single place for the convenience, so that the general layout can be understood and the different mock-ups / simulator versions can be sorted out.  Hermes shuttle flight simulator Hermes shuttle simulator Hermes shuttle misc mock-ups Hermes shuttle mock-up version "a" ...

Here's a try at recreating one of the proposed ESA Columbus space station configurations. It's based around my ESA Man Tended Free-Flyer add-on, with the addition of two modules, extra solar panels, a radiator and a robotic arm. To create this I'm using the excellent  Space Station Building Blocks  add-on by bregburch , with my own texture repaints to match the ESA hardware. In general the scaling is consistent and the look matches the late early 90's time frame. This specific configuration is based on a concept proposed by British Aerospace Ltd. (BAe) in 1990. In the future I'll try to recreate other configurations, as they make interesting destinations for the Hermes Shuttle...

The Buran OK-GLI cockpit add-on for Orbiter space simulator is finally released! Get it here: http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=5781   Add-on Description: This addon will add a Virtual cockpit to the OK-GLI Buran aerotester. The provided spacecraft3.dll config will also give a more realistic aerodynamic handling (at least in my opinion).It is based on the "Yasishchev VM-T with Shuttle" addon by kev33 (required) and, besides the config file, no other files are changed. Usage: Select the An225 & Myasishchev VM-T » K-Powered-Buran scenario and press F8 to view the Virtual Cockpit. One CRT and one instrument are configured to display MFDs. Credits: kev33 - original addon, configs, meshes and textures 4throck - cockpit mesh, textures and updated config

I'm adding the final touches to the Buran OK-GLI virtual cockpit! This project took me a long time to finish, as source photos were dificult to sort out. The aerotester (OK-GLI) and the orbital vehicles have slightly diferent instrumentation to complicate things. Also, only the aerotester was actually finished, meaning that most of the orbital version's panels displayed are mock-ups or incomplete versions.

Some resources documenting the layout of Buran cockpit instruments and panels. All photos are from the indicated sites: Cockpit mock-up, Central House of Aviation - http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/modl_buran.html Cockpit instruments, Technik Museum Speyer - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BURAN_Cockpit-Instrumente_0,_Gesamtansicht.jpg  Vadim Lukashevich, h ttp://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/11/rare-photos-of-russian-buran-space.html I'll add more images as I find them and hope to organize them by vehicle, mock-up or simulator.