Texas A&M Transfers Ownership Of NASA Space Shuttle Simulator

A NASA space shuttle simulator used by Texas A&M University since 2011 for research and educational purposes has been transferred to the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston, where it was moved in April as part of the museum’s permanent collection. A dedication ceremony at the museum Saturday, June 4 will recognize the change in ownership.

Representatives from Texas A&M and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station will attend the 4 p.m. ceremony, including retired Aggie astronaut Mike Fossum, who is the chief operating officer at Texas A&M University at Galveston and vice president at Texas A&M. Leadership from the Lone Star Flight Museum and NASA’s Johnson Space Center will also be present for the official transfer of ownership and signing of documents.

The Motion Base Simulator, built in 1976, was first used to train flight crew for the STS-1 mission on Jan. 9, 1979. The shuttle simulators were removed after the final space shuttle mission in 2011 to make room for the next generation of spaceflight training hardware. A team of volunteers including aerospace engineering professor Bonnie J. Dunbar, a retired NASA astronaut, worked roughly 5,000 hours to restore the simulator.

In recognition of the event, the museum is waiving admission fees Saturday for all Texas A&M faculty, staff and students.