The
21st Century Space Shuttle
Now
Flying: Atlantis Glass Cockpit
 | | Eleven
new full-color, flat-panel display
screens in the Shuttle cockpit replace older gauges and
displays. | |
Flying for
the first time on Atlantis on mission STS-101, 11 new full-color,
flat-panel display screens in the shuttle cockpit replace 32 gauges
and electromechanical displays and four cathode-ray tube displays.
The new “glass cockpit” is 34 kilograms (75 pounds) lighter and
uses less power than before, and its color displays provide easier
pilot recognition of key functions. The new cockpit will be installed
in all shuttles by 2002, and it sets the stage for the next cockpit
improvement planned to fly by 2005: a “smart cockpit” that reduces
the pilots’ workload during critical periods.
On STS-101,
Atlantis will fly as the most updated space shuttle ever, with more
than 100 new modifications incorporated during a 10-month period
at Boeing’s Palmdale, Calif., shuttle factory in 1998. Atlantis’
airlock was relocated to the payload bay to prepare for International
Space Station assembly flights; the communications system was updated;
several weight reduction measures were installed; enhancements were
made to provide additional protection to the cooling system; and
the crew cabin floor was strengthened. The shuttle Columbia is at
the Palmdale factory this year receiving many of the same upgrades,
including installation of the new “glass cockpit.”
 Today's
Space Shuttle
Since 1992,
not only has the cargo capacity of the shuttle increased by 7.26
metric tons (8 tons), the annual cost of operating the shuttle has
decreased by 40 percent. Improvements to the main engines and other
systems have reduced the estimated risks during launch by over 80
percent. And the number of all actual problems experienced by the
shuttle in flight has decreased by 70 percent. Although they have
flown for almost 20 years, the space shuttle fleet has used only
about a quarter of the lifetime for which it was designed. Discovery,
the most flown shuttle, has completed 27 trips to space out of 100
flights originally designed for each shuttle.
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