3 ms·
> Climb inside to experience rickety-looking Soviet computer panels and monitors. It takes guts to fly into space with these... Eh. It takes guts to fly into s
by Luc 17y ago
> Climb inside to experience rickety-looking Soviet computer panels and monitors. It takes guts to fly into space with these...
Eh. It takes guts to fly into space tout court, of course, but I don't think those look rickety. Solid, proven, dependable, as used by dozens of spacecraft and kosmonauts!
- JshWright 17y agoYeah, I think "over built" would be a more applicable critique, if you're trying to find one. Those are some very substantial looking instrument panels.
- rbanffy 17y agoI like my spacecraft overbuilt, you insensitive clod ;-) The Soviet shuttle had some definite advantages over the American design. It had no engines of its own, it could carry a larger payload. Another nice touch was that it could be mounted on top of the booster instead of its side, preventing Columbia-like accidents. And it was fully automated - the only time it flew, was unmanned. Truly a great piece of equipment. Very impressive.
- dotBen 17y agoThis was perhaps the most amazing feat for me, too (esp for it's time)
- dylanz 17y agoExactly. Every picture of space shuttle control panels "look" old, but are (most likely) state of the art technology. It must be the beige toned cases that immediately make us think "rickety looking". They are created to work, by NASA... not make by Apple, in order to look sharp.
- Tuna-Fish 17y agoActually, the computers used for mission-critical systems are very old. Generally to keep the electronics big enough that an alpha particle hitting the box does not give off enough energy to flip a bit and corrupt the program.
- gaius 17y agoLike the iBridge on the new USS Enterprise ;-)
- tybris 17y agoAt least Russian space-flight only requires guts, American space-flight also requires a good life insurance.
- JoeAltmaier 17y agoLove the leather seats!