Home>Museum News>NASA's first Crew Compartment Trainer scheduled to arrive at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
Story at a Glance
• NASA's first Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer tentatively scheduled to arrive on NASA's Super Guppy aircraft on Aug. 22 at 4 p.m. • The public may view the arrival from the museum grounds • Check the museum's website for the latest news and updates
Photos
HOUSTON, Texas (07/2012) - NASA's first Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT-1) is tentatively scheduled to arrive on NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 22 at 4 p.m. Check the museum’s website for the latest news and updates.
HOUSTON, Texas (06/2012) -- NASA's Super Guppy will transport the Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in late summer 2012. (U.S. Air Force photo)
DAYTON, Ohio -- Conceptual drawing of the NASA Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT) exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The CCT is a high-fidelity representation of the Space Shuttle Orbiter crew station that was used primarily for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations. (September 2012 udpate)
by Rob Bardua
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
8/15/2012 - DAYTON, Ohio -- NASA's first Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT-1) is tentatively scheduled to arrive on NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 22 at 4 p.m.
The public may view the aircraft landing from the museum grounds. Visitors must enter through the main museum entrance off of Springfield Street. Traffic along Springfield Street near the museum's entrance and along Woodman/Harshman Road may be congested due to the aircraft arrival. The flight of the Super Guppy to the museum may also be tracked online by visiting http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA941. (Federal Endorsement Not Implied.)
In order for the aircraft to land with the more than 23,000-pound trainer on the runway behind the museum, certain weather conditions and wind restrictions must be met. If the aircraft is unable to land on Aug. 22, it could be delayed until Aug. 23. A final weather call will be made on Aug. 22 at 1:30 p.m. Check the museum's website, www.nationalmuseum.af.mil, for the latest news and updates.
For more than 30 years, CCT-1 was housed in Johnson Space Center's Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) and was used to train crews from STS-1 through STS-132 as a high-fidelity representation of the Space Shuttle Orbiter crew station for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations. Here, astronauts learned how to operate many of the orbiter sub-systems in more than 20 different classes.
The crew module of the trainer consists of a flight deck and a mid-deck, and contains components, such as panels, seats and lights, visible to or used by the flight crew. Non-functional switches, connections, guards and protective devices all have the same physical characteristics, operating force, torque and movement as a real space shuttle.
NASA's Super Guppy aircraft has a cargo compartment that is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long. It can carry a maximum payload of more than 26 tons. The aircraft has a unique hinged nose that can open more than 200 degrees, allowing large pieces of cargo such as the CCT-1 to be loaded and unloaded from the front.
After arrival, museum and NASA technicians will offload the trainer, reassemble the interior and place it on interim display in the Cold War Gallery. Later, CCT-1 will be moved to a new Space Gallery in the museum's planned fourth building.
Plans also call for the museum to build a mock-up of the payload bay and when the CCT-1 exhibit is completed, it will allow the public to have a look into the cockpit and mid-deck areas of a shuttle and learn how astronauts trained for their missions.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is located on Springfield Street, six miles northeast of downtown Dayton. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day). Admission and parking are free.
NOTE TO PUBLIC: For more information, please contact the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at (937) 255-3286.
NOTE TO MEDIA: For more information, contact Rob Bardua in the National Museum of the United States Air Force Public Affairs Division at (937) 255-1386.
