''Space Shuttle America'' (also known as ''Space Shuttle America - The Next Century'') was a

motion simulator A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provi ...

ride at the

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The amusement park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built by the ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Gurnee, Illinois Gurnee ( ) is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Its population was 30,706 as of the 2020 census. It borders the city of Waukegan, and is a popular tourist attraction within the Chicago metropolitan area. Best known for being t ...

, that opened in 1994. The ride's main feature was a full-scale replica of an American

Space Shuttle orbiter The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1977 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, thi ...

. It closed permanently after the 2007 season and was removed on December 5, 2009.

Storyline

The storyline of the ride was that riders have boarded a new

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

called ''America'', which is capable of transporting passengers to the fictional Armstrong City using the LRVM (Lunar Run Velocity Management) Warp. Armstrong City is located a short distance from the

site Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typical ...

of the first manned

moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

. Guests entered a building that has a small replica of Launch Control at Cape Canaveral. Several TV screens display fake

NASA TV The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...

recordings about the shuttle and security cam views of the fictional facility that attendees are supposedly touring. Shortly before boarding, there is a notice about a large meteor that is approaching

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. In the movie, the shuttle takes off horizontally and the Pas-Com (Passenger Compartment) rises out of the cargo bay so riders can do some orbital sightseeing. The shuttle passes Space Shuttle ''Destiny'', which is doing some cleanup work around the atmosphere. Next the shuttle passes an HBO satellite and

Space Station Freedom Space Station ''Freedom'' was a NASA project to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union address, ''Freedom'' ...

. The shuttle enters LRVM warp and exits a short distance from the moon. The shuttle then flies over the Sea of Tranquility and Armstrong City. Shortly before landing at Armstrong, an alert is sent to the shuttle crew ordering them to investigate a meteor danger in the area. The shuttle, not even getting a chance to land, takes off again towards an

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, c ...

. ''America'' is then hit by an asteroid and is now fighting to survive in the asteroid field. ''America'' begins blasting asteroids with its 'particle beam' (laser). The shuttle then spots the meteor and is alerted it is heading on a direct course to Earth. Unable to destroy it from a distance, the shuttle flies through a canyon and a cave and destroys it from the inside. The shuttle, now crippled, heads immediately back towards the LRVM and warps back to Earth. As the shuttle prepares for re-entry, the hydraulics for the Pas-Com malfunction, preventing it from being retracted, but the fault is corrected just in time. The shuttle lands and the ride ends. The script was written by Tim Prokop, who also wrote the scripts for the preshow and post show. The fictional events take place in 2094. The movie was shown for a short while at

Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth and west of Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attractions. The park opened on August 5, ...

, and was made by DreamQuest Images.

Shuttle

Outside the building that houses the queue and the ride itself is a fiberglass

mock-up In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

of a

orbiter that has authentic "tiles" used in actual space shuttle orbiters. The shuttle was built to the exact scale of the real STS craft, but is neither an official NASA shuttle nor capable of spaceflight.

Other movies

The building that shows Space Shuttle America also showed: *Escape from Dino Island in 3D (1999–2001) * Stargate SG-3000 (2004–2005) *Superstition (Playing during Fright Fest in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007 and maybe before 2001)

Removal

High operating costs and dwindling popularity doomed Space Shuttle America after a thirteen year run. Its final operating season was 2007. For the following time period when the ride was closed, the interior was used as a temporary office/storage by employees. The shuttle and building were finally removed in December 2009. After plans to build a roller coaster on the site were canceled, the park expanded Hurricane Harbor into the area for the 2011 season.

References

{{Space Shuttle Fiction set in the 2090s Simulator rides America, Space Shuttle Six Flags Great America Space in amusement parks America, Space Shuttle