The Strangest Flight Simulator NASA Ever Built

From NASA studies of the Lunar Escape System

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[rollertoaster]

I probably shouldn't expect Nintendo to release a lunar escape game for the Wii, should I?

[carlfreeman]

Scott, I was a 20 year-old intern who programmed the analog computer and taught the astronauts how to fly the simulater. It was housed in a large sphere with a projected moonscape. The chairs were not used in the final version - too heavy. I could teach them in a coupe of days to make a safe orbit, but when we brought them back in 7 days, they were only successful less than 10% of the time. The success rate went up slightly if they left the 2nd astronaut on the surface. By the way, I was the only person to perform a loop on the way to a safe orbit.

[LongTran-emhc]

So, the space chair.
You can do reentry with that, it worked in KSP

[plainText]

Now we just need a lander that uses gentle Lithobraking to slow down and we'll have everything we need for a IRL Bradley Whistance minimalist KSP challenge.

[audunrundberg]

Floating in a most peculiar way indeed

[pat]

I’ve never heard anything more Kerbal in my life… “ yeah lets take away the steering and have ‘em lean into it”.

[davidf]

Hope there's a whole episode about this in the works

[Roach_Dogg_JR]

Am I the only one that finds the idea of ascending to orbit with nothing but a lawn chair with a motor to carry you and your own weight to steer you absolutely terrifying?

[gabedarrett]

What's the delta-v requirement for ascent to lunar orbit?

[mumblbeebee]

Ok, you got my attention, now where is the full length video, or has Tom Scott already flown the simulator? 😂

[Terrain]

Wait, I think it's way beyond KSP style
Even kerbals in EAS-1 are controlling it with joysticks

[saleplains]

as a hangglider pilot i approve of this weight shift control scheme

[nahommerk]

There is an episode about this vehicle in the show, "For all mankind". The female astronaut candidates, or "ASSCANS" for short, had to safely fly and land it to qualify for space flight. It was very dangerous and Molly's friend died after she crashed.

[MarvinTechTips]

I was never prepared for the ending 😂😂😀

[lostpony]

Space motorcycle with lean steering was probably a selling point for recruiting those right stuff guys

[CarFreeSegnitz]

Save weight by removing chair. Further weight reduction by removing the rockets and providing the astronauts with canned beans and beer.

[iPig]

The only contingency more frightening than a shuttle RTLS!

[jimlthor]

Blown away at how creative these people were

[andy.robinson]

That's a particularly interesting position they expected the astronauts to get into...

[iEcilpse]

“ancestor to the wii fit balance board” boy howdy i sure hope it works better than it