News

MultiTouch displays help tell space shuttle story at Kennedy Space Center

September 18, 2013

MultiTouch Ltd. has announced the launch of two large interactive display systems that use its MultiTaction Cells in the new Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, a 90,000-square-foot, $100 million facility. The exhibit pays tribute to the space shuttle Atlantis, the last shuttle to enter space, and provides guests with more than 60 interactive touchscreen experiences and high-tech simulators.

The installations include the International Space Station wall, a single large interactive display consisting of seven MultiTaction 55-inch Cells. To tell the story of the ISS, the company said, the wall offers a look into the past and provides a real-time snapshot of the present. The ISS Wall includes interactive 3D models and shows the assembly process of the space station, while animations depict a "day in the life" of an ISS crew member. Visitors can also experience scientific experiments and expeditions, receive live feeds from space and even enter their zip code to find out when the space station will pass over their house.

To bring shuttle program highlights to life, the company said, MultiTaction Cells were also used in the Shuttle Transportation System Timeline. This installation includes six MultiTaction 55-inch Cells integrated into one tilted table, engaging guests with fun facts and graphics about the shuttle program. The timeline features key dates and milestones, mission highlights, "edge of your seat" moments, and facts on the crews, expeditions, payloads, spacewalks, experiments, launches and landings, astronomy and more.

"The Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction not only enables guests to come face to face with the actual space-flown orbiter, Atlantis, it also invites them to 'be the astronaut' with more than 60 interactive experiences," Doug Wohlert, project development manager at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, said in a news release. "STS Timeline and ISS media walls have proven extremely popular with guests, who have enjoyed having an unprecedented amount of information, images and videos about the space shuttle program and the ISS right at their fingertips that's easy to search and fun to use."

The attraction required a visually stimulating experience that can handle hundreds of concurrent visitors, MultiTouch General Manager Timo Korpela said in the release. "With our ability to build interactive surfaces at any size, with ultra-high graphics resolution and support for an unlimited number of concurrent users, our displays are the ideal solution," he said. "MultiTouch displays look and feel like a natural part of this magnificent space exhibition and pay tribute to NASA's incredible 30-year program."

The Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction is now open to the public at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

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