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Alumnus John Young and about 40 other veteran astronauts were the first to experience a NASA simulation that recreates a space shuttle liftoff and out-of-this-world view of Earth.
Young, AE 52, who was commander of the first shuttle mission in 1981, sat on the front row next to Bob Crippen, who piloted the inaugural flight.
Is the experience authentic? In the astronaut lingo, Young gave his "all systems go" approval. The $60 million Space Shuttle Launch Experience at the Kennedy Space Center is NASA's first tourist attraction.
"It's pretty realistic with all the shakes and rattles and vibration," Young told the Associated Press, but it overemphasizes some things, like noise.
"You're sitting in there in the cockpit, you're wearing a helmet and you're a long ways from where the noise is coming from," Young explained. "There's a clunk when you separate from the solid rocket boosters, there's a click when you separate from the external tank."
The concept was proposed seven years ago and funded with visitors center admissions and private finances. Now the price of the experience, NASA doesn't call it a ride, is included in the space center's admission price of $38 for adults and $28 for children.
The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., which ranks as the state's fourth most popular attraction, may have just gotten a boost into a higher orbit.
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