From nydailynews.com:

The first thing you notice entering the Shuttle Launch Experience at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the noise - and the rumble under your feet.

Walking up the industrial steel gangway, visitors are met by the voices of astronauts talking about their actual shuttle experiences - the fear, the joy and the emotions they felt while buckled in and waiting for their shuttle missions to take off.

The testimonials are just part of the Space Center’s recently opened $60 million Shuttle Launch Experience, which simulates all the sensations of an actual shuttle ride.

Space Center operators relied heavily on input from astronauts to make the experience as realistic as possible. The images, the rumbling and the noise help to build excitement - or fear - as you wait to enter the simulator.

“After a while my face hurt,” four-time Shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden says in a video that preps visitors on the way in.

The pain was from smiling so much, he says.

This happens, mind you, while the floor shakes, giving the impression of what’s about to happen may result in the need to change one’s underwear.

The Shuttle Launch Experience is the centerpiece of a transformed Kennedy Space Center, located an hour east of Orlando, a spot best known for the beloved mouse with oversize shoes.

The new ride adds a limited theme park element to the Space Center, which had always been a mecca for space buffs and the curious. It’s alongside real rockets and a Space Shuttle, and you can also take a trip to the launch pads. Real astronauts make daily visits, too.

(Visitors to the Space Center on Jan. 2 or Feb. 14 can also witness actual shuttle launches - but you should definitely book tickets early.)

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