Space Shuttle

Overview

Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle
Lifting Power
Fuel Capacity
Engine Restart
Manoverable
Can Attach Payloads
Can Attach Boosters
Dockable
Power Usage	6
Cargo	8

The Space Shuttle is probably the most sought after and prized item in the game of Space Agency.

Currently, it is a spacecraft that can neither be launched nor be re-entered, found near X = 635 Y = 1915 in Mission 30. After this mission, the Shuttle will appear docked to STA's Oxygen Garden.

It looks like a NASA space shuttle (hence its name), and has a docking port on its port side near the cockpit. In real life this is where astronauts would enter and exit the shuttle. It can carry eight units of cargo, of which at least one must be taken up by a Battery.

Despite being based on the real-life space shuttle, which can be re-entered, it cannot yet be landed on HOM as of version 1.9.1 because, as the game states in Mission 30, its re-entry heat shield was damaged by a micrometeorite collision.

The Shuttle is one of 3 objects that cannot be found in the rocket assembly menu, the others being the green-colored Soyuz Docking Module, and the Spy Satellite.

When using Cargo view, both a Station Module Large and a scaled-down Truss Large can be seen inside the cargo bay.

Andy Barry, who is currently the main developer of Space Agency, says he has plans to add the space shuttle into the game as a fully usable part, and it will be able to be launched and re-entered, as well as carry payload.

Trivia

• In version 1.7.0, a second shuttle with fuel and fully-charged batteries could be found at coordinates X: -99 Y: -99, after completing Mission 32. This was removed in version 1.8.0.
• The only current way to add additional shuttles to a sandbox is by modifying the saved sandbox file.
• The Shuttle's name is "Nooleus", with the NASA logo on the shuttle replaced by the Nooleus logo.
• Trying to land the Shuttle on HOM is impossible, thus, it always explodes.
• It looks like the Space Shuttle Discovery.
• The Space Shuttles do not ferry cargo to the ISS today as the program has been retired. However, Endeavour is still functional, and kept at a museum in California.
• The shuttle has wheels and a payload (space station module) inside it visible from cargo view.
• "Shuttle Re-imagined" is a blog created by user Angrycat9000, which suggests how the Space Shuttle launch and reentry may work. And user Ian75 made an animation to simulate it.
• When pressing the engine button, instead of the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) firing, the two OMS AJ-10 Engines at the side of each engine fire. This is because the main engines' fuel came from the external tank during the launch.
• In the interior veiw, there is a scaled-down Truss Large below the station module, likely to represent a real shuttle's robot arm.
• The is also an edited Truss Large with a docking port on top, similar to the Station Refuel Silo. This represents the external airlock featured in later shuttle missions, and is where it docked to the ISS.

Gallery

The shuttle seen in space

The shuttle seen from Quick Play mode (Note: it has no fuel and power)

The interior view of the shuttle

The location of the Space Shuttle during Mission 30 by a red box. It moves further southeast as the mission gets longer.

Space Shuttle compared to Saturn V

See also - the real NASA Shuttle

Resources / Inspiration

• Gigapan image with pan and zoom: exterior view
• Post flight presentations for all Shuttle missions: youtube playlist
• Related craft: Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA), Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA)

• Freely downloadable (i.e. public) open-source 3d simulation of the Space Shuttle - not a game - that runs on desktop PCs (e.g. Windows, Mac, Linux). Uses aerospace research and development sim FlightGear's flight dynamics engine (JSBSim), which is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to the standards of the space industry. Most detailed simulation of the Space Shuttle outside of NASA's internal ones Can be flown directly by Shuttle Crew Operations Manual (SCOM) and supports detailed failure simulation. Videos. (To access: install FlightGear core (~2GB download) and select NASA Space Shuttle from launcher's craft browser. Quick starts are available: In orbit, near ISS, piggyback on carrier with detached glide, middle of re-entry (TAEM), on approach to land (trainer), ready for launch with minimal work. See manual in wiki page, and Earthview orbital renderer HD textures & options.)
• Buran (comparison), a Space Shuttle from the USSR's Buran program and which drew on some of the NASA Space Shuttle's design.

Nooleus`s Note from July 21, 2010

I Know You. I Know You Play My Games. People find My Games Interesting. But YOU. Do You find my games Interesting? I Know you Play Space Agency, But Do You Play Space Agency 2138?