Bruce Irving
Simulated Space Travel
With the Orbiter space flight simulator
This is where the Space Age started, October 4, 1957, with the Russian Sputnik 1 just about to enter orbit as the very first artificial satellite. No one was there to get this shot, but I took it myself in the Orbiter space flight simulator. This is a free piece of PC software that accurately simulates the physics of space flight while showing it all in cool 3D graphics. This is a story about how I spent my summer vacation -- playing in space.
Orbiter doesn't restrict you to real or historic spacecraft. You are free to fly powerful but still physically possible futuristic spacecraft that come with Orbiter, or to seek out add-ons that recreate cool fictional space ships from 2001: A Space Odyssey and other science fiction worlds. And remember, these are not just pictures. This isn't Photoshop. These are screen shots of dynamic simulations. Your ships have engines and thrusters. You fly them. This is like a video game but with real physics and no bombs or guns. Just you against Newton's Laws. That dude Newton is tougher than he looks, but he's fair. His laws are predictable. You can learn to dock with the space station. Keep trying!
I miss the Space Shuttle. I know it was an aging system and ready for retirement, but it was just so cool. I was lucky enough to witness a real shuttle launch in 2007, STS-118. Nothing can compare with that spectacle. But with Orbiter, I can launch a shuttle whenever I want, fly it to orbit, dock with the International Space Station, reenter the atmosphere, and land back in Florida. With time acceleration, I can do it all in an hour or so.
Back in 2006, I installed an Orbiter add-on that someone had created of the then recently launched New Horizons spacecraft. At the time, Pluto was pretty much a mystery, but they created a surface model anyway. In July 2015, New Horizons reached Pluto. The image on the left below is the 2006 Orbiter simulation with New Horizons in the foreground. The right image is the real Pluto as imaged by New Horizons. Not bad!
The free Orbiter space flight simulator was developed as a hobby by Dr. Martin Schweiger of University College London. Many space enthusiasts around the world have developed free add-ons for Orbiter. If you are interested in space exploration and don't mind a bit of physics and detailed instructions, search for Orbiter space flight simulator, download, and install it on a Windows PC. You might also search for my Orbiter tutorial book "Go Play In Space." It's a free PDF that teaches you how to do just that. Then you can give yourself a little tour of the solar system to experience sights like the one below, with the volcanic moon Io passing in front of majestic Jupiter. Earth is a great planet, but it's not the only one.
I have fond childhood memories of the Apollo Moon landings. With the help of a free Orbiter add-on called AMSO, I can recreate the experience of an Apollo mission from start to finish, or just fly selected parts of a Moon flight, like the Saturn V launch and the landing on the Moon. Autopilots are helpful but optional.
