Shuttle Atlantis: From the Inside

No wonder these space x pilots are so chill and happy. This ship looks like the most complicated machine to operate

My dad took my brother and I to a limited public viewing of The Enterprise at an airstrip at Cape Canaveral. We got to meet some of the astronauts and engineers. I was around 10 years old. There was a set of stairs leading up to one of the ports of the shuttle. I looked up at one of the astronauts and asked if I could go up the stairs. At the time I didn't know how crazy security was, but the pilot said it was OK and he took me up to peek inside. When we were up there, several security people saw me and got upset. The pilot realized he was in trouble and told me "we better get down before they pop a gasket" and we went down the stairs. My brother was so jealous of me. It was so cool to see the inside of the ship.

Rockwell: "How many buttons should we put in the space shuttle?" Nasa: "Yes"

I never get tired of watching these videos. I miss our Space Shuttle program, cost not withstanding.

So many dials and switches they had to verify and prep work before the shuttle was reprocessed and strapped to the tank for another flight! Mind-blowing.

Imagine being the guys who have to test every single switch, and confirm every test of every switch. That is patience beyond what I can imagine.

I just adore Space Shuttle!!! One of the best inventions ever!!!

For some reason I am amazed that people wear normal clothing and shoes when working in the shuttle. Always assumed they had to wear some special coveralls to keep it perfectly clean.

It is mind blowing to think that when the ground crew closed the hatch and locked it that they were completely isolated from the outside environment.

Great to see the interior systems in such detail.

That would be me in the Commanders seat on my last recovery with Ron Delaney

What a complicated machine. Just amazing really.

I thought this was a museum/airshow staff playing around and preparing it for display...I definitely had to rewind a bunch when I realized this IS REAL PREP for a flight.

"excuse me sir, would you like some water?" "Verified."

FanTASTIC video! Thank you so much for posting this. Absolutely a space geek's dream.

This was an excellent and interesting video. Got a look at at the highly trained people that it took to support the orbiters let alone the whole shuttle system. These are the people that help make the U.S Space program as great as it is. ..Verified!

The wonder of this is not knowing what every switch does, but to know the procedures on how/when/why to operate them in a beautiful ballet called Flight procedures! I fly an A320. I can only dream of flying this air/space craft.

Kinda weird to see random normal folks in street clothes casually working in a billion dollar vehicle where only hours before famous ASTRONAUTS floated around while the whole thing was in earth orbit.

I would be sitting in the pilot’s seat making rocket sounds.

The more I see, the more inquisitive I become...this is so interesting !