Flying The Space Shuttle

A Detailed Look At The Space Shuttle's Flight Instruments

A Pilot’s Guide to the World’s Most Ambitious Machine

Ever wonder what it would really be like to sit in the cockpit of the Space Shuttle?

With over 20,000 hours of real-world flight experience, author and aerospace educator Edward Rafacz opens the hatch to NASA’s most iconic spacecraft—and invites you inside. Flying the Space Shuttle is a detailed, accessible, and visually rich guidebook for pilots, engineers, students, and space enthusiasts who want to understand how the Shuttle actually flew.

This is not a high-level overview. It’s a hands-on flight manual written in clear, pilot-style language that makes complex systems understandable. Using public-domain NASA documentation and decades of aerospace expertise, this book breaks down the Shuttle’s real flight displays, systems, and procedures—from launch through orbit, reentry, and landing.

You'll learn:

• How the Digital Autopilot guided astronauts into and out of orbit

• What the Primary Flight Display told crews about their speed, altitude, and flight attitude

• How Shuttle pilots used the Mach/Velocity indicator, Attitude Status display, and Compass Card

• The role of the Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) and how it steered crews into the orbital insertion plane

• What it was like to track orbital alignment using the Inertial Velocity Bearing Pointer and Course Deviation Indicator

• How each phase of flight—OPS 101 through 106—was broken into precise digital modes for NASA's onboard computers

This book brings together all the tools, visuals, and explanations you wish NASA had published in one place. Each chapter connects to actual Shuttle displays and includes simulator-compatible breakdowns of each flight phase. It’s perfect for students of aerospace engineering, commercial and military pilots, armchair astronauts, and fans of NASA history.

Whether you're flying it in Microsoft Flight Simulator, building it in your mind, or teaching the next generation, How to Fly the Space Shuttle delivers the depth, clarity, and excitement to help you master the most complex aircraft ever built.

Bonus materials: Includes links to expanded schematics, diagrams, and a companion video series via the Spacecraft Guide Channel.

Prepare for takeoff.
Whether you're headed to low Earth orbit or just turning pages on the ground, this book will change the way you see spaceflight forever.