# How noisy is it aboard the space shuttle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362 "2010-07-28T20:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/1 "2010-07-28T20:31:28Z")
Strange question I know, however there was a British reality TV show a few years back which had people believing they were on board the real space-shuttle while in orbit. The simulated shuttle used in the show had quite a bit of background noise, such as mechanical noises and a constant background roar like you get on an airplane. I always envisaged the interior of a spacecraft in orbit as being fairly silent, whats it actually like? btw I found that reality show interesting in that it seemed to me to backfire quite spectacularly on the producers, for the first few episodes they set it up for the audience to laugh mockingly at the gullible fools who thought they were actually going into place but made the mistake of choosing people who were humble and likable, if not that bright, and the general public started rooting for them. The problem of course being how they and the audience would react when they _(the participants)_ found out it was all a giant hoax and they weren’t actually getting to fulfill their dream, instead they framed the final reveal as showing the contestants as conquering heroes instead of figures of fun. Not what seemed to be originally planned. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/2 "2010-07-28T21:00:31Z")
No one realized anything was amiss when they discovered they weren’t floating in zero-gravity? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/3 "2010-07-28T23:34:39Z")
ISTR at least in the early/planning stages the International Space Station at least, it turned out it was going to be “pretty damn loud”. Enough to actually be a concern. Obviously, peoples value of pretty damn loud varies, but it certainly differs from “hey, its pretty quite in here”. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/4 "2010-07-28T23:49:14Z")
I don’t know about the noise, but it apparently does [stink](http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/exp4_update_020221.html) up there. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/5 "2010-07-29T00:15:15Z")
[Obligatory Youtube link.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwfsFtpACFw&feature=related) The engines light off at 3:30. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/6 "2010-07-29T09:02:15Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > No one realized anything was amiss when they discovered they weren’t floating in zero-gravity? They fed them technobabble about gravity-generators or that they wouldn’t be going high enough to experience zero-G, something along those lines. Thanks everyone btw ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/7 "2010-07-29T09:02:30Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > No one realized anything was amiss when they discovered they weren’t floating in zero-gravity? The contestants were, how to put this charitably? _Not_ chosen for their critical thinking skills. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/8 "2010-07-29T10:09:01Z")
Space Cadets, it was called. It got slated by people round here, ISTR, but I loved it. Once of the contestants was a mole, whose IQ was probably greater than the rest of them combined, but even he seemed to get quite caught up in it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/9 "2010-07-29T12:27:35Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > No one realized anything was amiss when they discovered they weren’t floating in zero-gravity? And didn’t experience the 3 g’s during launch? (for reference, takeoff acceleration for a commercial airliner is about 0.2-0.25 g’s front-to-rear) Per [The Wikipedia page for the show,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(television_hoax)#.27Double_hoax.27_theory), the purported gullibility of the “contestants” stretches credulity: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > As the attention to detail in the hoaxed environment became clear, some viewers expressed suspicions - in particular on Channel 4’s message board for the programme - that the entire show, including the apparent gullibility and abject ignorance of the Cadets, was in fact a double bluff; **all** the Cadets were actors and that the real target of “the biggest prank in television history” was the “gullible” viewing public. OTOH, [the audition process](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(television_hoax)#Audition_process) was supposedly set up to select the most scientifically illiterate and gullible people, the folks most likely to fall for something like this. Being an overeducated engineer and skeptic (and working with folks of similar persuasion), I guess I get a warped perspective on the knowledge level and critical thinking skills of the average joe, so stuff like this (and the Tonight Show’s “Jaywalking” segment) is just depressing… ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/10 "2010-07-29T13:20:15Z")
And they didn’t notice when they weren’t loaded onto an actual rocket? Doesn’t smell right to me. Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/11 "2010-07-29T14:03:24Z")
Average people really do not know anything about the details of space flight. If memory serves they were told that the ascent to orbit was more like a flight in rapidly ascending high-powered plane, something that the producers could plausibly simulate in the machine they had, rather than the bone-shaking near-vertical ride that real Shuttle astronauts experience. They seemed to accept this quite readily. I didn’t take the hoax theories seriously. If they were faking being regular people they were all brilliant actors. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/12 "2010-07-29T16:20:59Z")
I’ve encountered misconceptions about space from real people that are easily great enough to account for people being fooled by something like that show. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/13 "2010-07-29T17:00:49Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > > [@HeyHomie](#): > > > > No one realized anything was amiss when they discovered they weren’t floating in zero-gravity? > > And didn’t experience the 3 g’s during launch? (for reference, takeoff acceleration for a commercial airliner is about 0.2-0.25 g’s front-to-rear) > > Per [The Wikipedia page for the show,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets_(television_hoax)#.27Double_hoax.27_theory), the purported gullibility of the “contestants” stretches credulity: > > > [@Wikipedia](#): > > > > As the attention to detail in the hoaxed environment became clear, some viewers expressed suspicions - in particular on Channel 4’s message board for the programme - that the entire show, including the apparent gullibility and abject ignorance of the Cadets, was in fact a double bluff; **all** the Cadets were actors and that the real target of “the biggest prank in television history” was the “gullible” viewing public. Knowing how much certain people want to be on TV and how many reality TV stars purposefully act in certain roles to please the producers, I wouldn’t be surprised if the contestants didn’t figure out that the whole thing was a hoax, but played along just to be on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/14 "2010-07-29T18:12:40Z")
Perhaps, but it seemed more subtle than that. Two of the three who made it on to the “flight” were perhaps a little brighter than the other one, and I remember them raising the possibility that the thing wasn’t real on a couple of occasions, especially later on when the behaviour of the “Russian pilot” got more and more outlandish. But they seemed to dismiss those thoughts quite easily, with the help of the stooge, who quite subtly steered them away from questioning things. The third contestant seemed convinced that is was real, and was just thrilled to be on board. To me, they simply didn’t behave like people who were faking it. If they were, why raise doubts? Just play along. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-is-it-aboard-the-space-shuttle/548362/15 "2010-07-29T19:16:17Z")
As to the OP, I don’t think it’s terribly noisy when the engines aren’t firing. I’ve seen several IMAX movies shot aboard the shuttles, and it never seemed especially loud. I don’t recall any astronauts complaining about noise in any of the NASA reports or essays I’ve read.