The experience deploys sophisticated motion technology and high fidelity audiovisuals to duplicate the sights, sounds and sensations of launching into space fully vertical in launch mode position. The project has been three years in the making and was conceived by a team of astronauts, NASA experts and attraction designers.

“Shuttle Launch Experience will forge a lasting impression for everyone,” believes Daniel LeBlanc, chief operating officer of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The journey begins as visitors enter the Shuttle Launch Simulation Facility, inspired architecturally by Space Shuttle facilities at Kennedy Space Center. As visitors ascend along the gantry, astronaut testimonials set the stage for what is to come.

After passing through the heart of Shuttle operations for the pre-launch briefing, crew members enter the crew pod in the Shuttle’s cargo bay and strap in for launch. For the next five minutes, the pod’s 44 passengers see, feel and live the trip to 17,500 mph above. As the Shuttle bay doors open, what follows is a breathtaking view of Earth seldom seen in the first person.

Charged with ensuring Shuttle Launch Experience is the most realistic launch simulation ever created was California-based BRC Imagination Arts, which also designed the NASA Visitor Complex’s Apollo/Saturn V Center back in 1997.

Talking to Park World about the project over the winter, BRC’s Bob Rogers commented: “It has to offer the best of scholarship and the best of showmanship in order to satisfy the demands of NASA. The engineering information presented has to be perfect, the science in it has to be perfect, but on the other hand, it all has to earn its money back. It’s going to do that by drawing attendance out the Orlando area, the most competitive entertainment market on earth.”

BRPH Companies Inc served as the architect and construction manager for Shuttle Launch Experience. The crew pod simulator fabrication is by Oceaneering. The ride concept designer and engineer is The Wheel Thing Inc. Technomedia Solutions provided audiovisual and show control, while HW Davis Construction is the general contractor of the facility.

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