~~@Com~~
On the net Since 1994
BACKStar City, Russia
Charles Simonyi's description of the Soyuz control panel
Links Cosmonaut Training | Inside the Mir | Soyuz | Centrifuge | Buran | Control Panel | Phobos-Grunt
New Soyuz Control Panel ca. 2009. Source: charlesinspace.com
Updated Soyuz Control panel
No snickering please, as the spacecraft itself does not run Windows, this simulator does. It requires more complex software that simulates not only the spacecraft functions, but the spacecraft's environment as well.
Previous generation Soyuz control panelBefore the last update, this is how the Soyuz control panel looked. The navigation computer in the upper right corner is a mechanical analog device where one sets the orbital parameters (as given by ground control) and then the clockwork turns the earth in the proper fashion. If you watch old WW2 submarine movies (Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) you can see similar analog computers directing torpedo fire. The small CRT in the middle is a TV screen that shows some re-entry parameters in the style of an old Atari game, and it can also show video of the rendezvous. The new panel simulates the old one using an Intel 386 chip – selected for its reliability and resistance to radiation in the space environment. Source: charlesinspace.com
Vintage Soyuz Control Panel Source: charlesinspace.com
Soyuz at Star City October 2000
"Maybe computer science will help decode DNA, and not just by supplying tools.
Disassembling DNA could be a hacker’s ultimate dream." ~ Charles Simonyi 1986This page was updated 08/12/13