No, Seattle’s Museum of Flight will not get one of the coveted retired space shuttles, but we will get a rare, full-size shuttle simulator, which according to the Seattle Times is pretty damn cool:

The trainer is the only one of its kind in the world.

Really? It’s the “only one of its kind” in the world? That doesn’t sound right… at least not according to the extensive fact checking I did by reading just a few paragraphs further:

The shuttle trainer that is coming to Seattle is one of five.

Huh. Perhaps the Seattle Times is staffed entirely by 13-year-old boys these days?

[Slogtip: Smartypants]

24 replies on “How a Full-Size Space Shuttle Simulator Is Just Like a Snowflake”

  1. Did Gregoire’s quote a few paragraphs down clear up the distinction for ya at all?

    “The largest of the trainers, this addition will allow visitors to actually climb aboard the trainer and experience the hands-on training that astronauts get. Visitors will not be allowed in the other shuttles, and this trainer is a true win for our dynamic museum,” Gregoire said in a statement.

    So there are five trainers, but this is the largest – the only one of its kind.

  2. @1,

    In that sense, they’re all the only one of their kind. Unique, just like snowflake. But surely you’re not going tell me that one sentence doesn’t contradict the other?

  3. I’m pretty sure 13 yo boys know how to use google.

    Or even bing.

    Plus, each simulator has a different serial number on it.

    In Space, noone can hear you record footage in 3D at 48 fps, but they can hear the kids scream when they use their cell phones and realize they’ve been gypped.

  4. @2, i see your joke, but must I pretend to not see the gov’s quote that makes sense of both remarks?

    Consider the Temptations. There were five of them. Does that mean Eddie Kendricks wasn’t the only Temptation of his kind in the world?

  6. Well, the cargo bay on Deep Space Nine and the Enterprise was always where the sexy stuff happened, so that’s a point.

    Do we get a Canada Arm too?

  12. And @Goldy — the issue you should take is with the prose of the times article, not with the intrinsic awesomeness/not awesomeness of the shuttle trainer. 🙂

  13. A space shuttle simulator isnt nothing to sneeze at, while thats thats as good as a real shuttle, its still a major attraction and 200x better than that Apollo capsule that was showcased at the Science Center for 30 years.

  14. This had better be a working simulator. And I remember the Gemini capsule mockup from the Science Center. It was cool but sad as it wasn’t taken care of and most of the buttons/switches were gone.

  15. Those other trainers are nothing like Seattle’s trainer. They’re probably going to end up in big cities or in Canada and therefore they’re different. Plus ours carries more passengers SO THERE CAN BE NO COMPARISON. The other trainers probably didn’t even go through downtown.

  16. Great, now terrorists can come here (again!) and use the simulator to plan for smashing the Shuttle into our future Moon base towers.

  17. “Unlike the actual shuttles, the public will be allowed to walk inside the trainer.”

    If you’ve been to the Air and Space Museum in DC, you’ll have seen how clever use of lucite lets people walk the backup Skylab without actually touching anything, so I would not be surprised if somebody finds a way to make real Shuttle interiors accessible.

  18. @17 or maybe some 3D projections might help. Have to train @16’s future “pilots” after all.

    So, you guys still don’t know about the replacement mil shuttles, I’m supposing, even though we have them, right?

  19. “The shuttle trainer that is coming to Seattle is one of five.”

    Isn’t One of Five a character in the Star Trek universe? And how did she become a shuttle trainer?

  20. Well, if you ever read the news, you’d have read the governor’s statement that the trainer we are getting is the largest one. So it is a one of a kind trainer despite not being the only trainer.

    Good thing the Stranger is free…

  23. With blog posts like this it’s no wonder the Stranger paid such a lucrative fee to steal Goldy away from his own blog (which, I’ve just learned was a huge successful money maker).

    Wait, it wasn’t? And they don’t pay shit?

    Gee, that’s strange.

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