The College of Engineering at Texas A&M has the unique opportunity to receive a donation of the fully operational NASA space shuttle flight simulator at the conclusion of the last shuttle mission later this year. The simulator is a functioning historic artifact that trained all 355 shuttle astronauts who flew into space. This will be the only large piece of equipment from the NASA space shuttle project that will remain in the State of Texas. All other donated equipment will be small and for display purposes only. In order for A&M to receive the simulator, we must be able to let NASA know by the end of May that we will have the funds to complete the disassembly and reassemble the simulator and make it operational once it arrives at A&M. We need your help in finding the approximately $500,000 that will be needed to complete the disassembly process and help reassemble and re-commission the equipment at A&M. We do not need to have the funds in hand by the end of the month; we just need to have commitments for the funding over the next year or two.
Texas A&M President, Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, has committed the university to provide for the transportation of the equipment from NASA in Clear Lake to College Station. College of Engineering Dean, G. Kemble Bennett, has committed space and some funds for renovation of the space for the project. NASA is committing up to $1.5 million to disassemble and prepare the equipment for shipment to College Station. We all feel it would be a tremendous benefit for the Texas A&M College of Engineering to have this historic equipment fully operational at A&M for use by our students, and as a demonstration of our close ties to the space program and NASA.
The donor(s) who help us bring this space shuttle simulator to A&M will be appropriately recognized prominently at the facility that houses the equipment. If you would like to help us with this project, please contact Don Birkelbach via phone or e-mail as described below. If you know of others who might like to be a part of this project, please contact Don, as well, to share that information. We feel that we have the opportunity to demonstrate the excellence of our engineering programs and our close partnership with both corporations and governmental agencies by having this equipment operational at A&M, but we have a short timeframe to make it happen. We need your help! We are being given the first option for this shuttle simulator donation due to our close relationship with the NASA program for many years. With your help we can make this happen!
Don Birkelbach (979) 845-5113 d-birkelbach@tamu.edu
