Orion CRV Flight Sim!
April 23, 2006 (Lancaster, CA)
The Traveling Space Museum made its first appearance at the Antelope Valley Poppy Festival in Lancaster Ca. on April 22nd and 23rd. Lancaster Ca. is the home of Hall of Fame astronaut Gordon Fullerton and wouldn’t you know it –Gordon Fullerton actually showed up! He takes one look at the Orion CRV Flight Simulator and another at me and asks: “Can I ride it?” I could tell he was seriously curious!
Make no mistake about it; Fullerton’s curiosity comes from being a test pilot from way back. He’s flown everything from F-14 Tomcats to B-52s. He was even Captain of the Enterprise for a day –the real Enterprise—the space shuttle prototype that paved the way for over a hundred other shuttle flights including two of his own. Gordon Fullerton logged over 800 hours in space. He does a serious ‘walk around’ and inspects Orion’s hydraulics before climbing in.
Gordon Fullerton wasn’t the first astronaut to pilot the Orion –Mission Specialist Leroy Choi holds that distinction. Fullerton was, however, the first ‘Shuttle Pilot’ to fly the simulation. Fullerton knows that not all simulators are created equal. Most sims that travel to air shows and fairs are on par with many of the flight simulation games that you can play on your home computer. The better ones run on custom software but most do not. The Orion CRV, however, is no game. It’s a real full–motion flight simulator that can knock you on your butt if you’re not careful! You better fasten your seat belt tight before operating the Orion. Orion’s two Pro Hopper brand hydraulic actuators are capable of bouncing the front end of a typical ‘lo-rider’ automobile four feet in the air!Mission Specialist Leroy Chaio got his shot at Orion when TSM traveled back to New York City to do a private party to honor the 5th anniversary of the National Geographic Channel. Chaio is no stranger to unusual spacecraft. He’s one of the few who has flown in the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and spent months aboard the International Space Station. Chaio thought he had seen it all until he climbed into the Orion CRV.
As you can see, Chaio and Fullerton had themselves a ball. They’re laughing because their ride is no joke! After getting ‘a feel for the stick,’ both astronauts quickly got things rockin’ and rollin’-- swinging the half-ton vehicle side-to-side and up and down He told me that it compared well to simulators built for NASA and the military. When Fullerton had the stick, the Poppy Festival crowd had fun just watching him. Once the buzz went through the crowd as to who he was, he received applause after each gyration. The Orion is almost as much fun to watch as it is to operate. Often, friends and family want to see you knocked around and ‘crash’-especially if you’re cocky. For some, crashing and getting knocked around is much more fun than a smooth flight. Like Gordon Fullerton, some people like to ride on the wild side!
