Welcome to F-Sim | Space Shuttle 2 for iOS

Release Notes

The current version is 1.1.32.

Feedback

We hope that you enjoy F-Sim Space Shuttle us much as we do, and we'd love to hear what you think. If you have questions, suggestions, or encountered a bug, please get in touch.

Landing the Space Shuttle

If you're not familiar with the Space Shuttle or how it lands from space, we highly recommend this talk, courtesy of Bret Copeland. It's just 20 minutes and is quite entertaining, check it out:

F-Sim | Space Shuttle

F-Sim | Space Shuttle simulates the part of the landing called TAEM (terminal area energy management). That's when the commander disengages the auto-pilot and takes manual control of the orbiter.

An option to fly the full re-entry, starting with the de-orbit burn, will be part of a free update we're currently working on.

For now, we've added an orbit mode, where you can take the Orbiter for a spin around the planet and enjoy the view (we've heard that sunrise and sunset are particularly beautiful from orbit :)

Tilt Steering, Virtual Thumb-Sticks, or BlueTooth GamePads

Like most aircraft, the Orbiter is controlled by stick. In F-Sim for iOS, you control it by tilting your device. In the Help Menu, you can access a brief introduction that explains how tilt steering works, among other things.

Optionally, you can switch to virtual dpads in the Settings→Controls Menu: Just set Input to Analog

A third option is to use a GamePad that's been paird to your device via BlueTooth

Tutorials

If you're new to F-Sim, check out the tutorials, accessible via the Main Menu.

The tutorials contain autopilot demos, modes where the autopilot controls either the pitch or the roll channel (and you the other), and modes where you control both input channels manually, but still get hints like "roll left" or "pull up".

Autopilot and Fly-By-Wire

The orbiter uses a so called fly-by-wire system, which means that it's actually controlled by its flight computer, even if control stick steering (CSS) is active. The flight computer interprets your stick commands, and will move the elevons (the control surfaces on the orbiter's wings combine elevator and aileron functions) accordingly. The system prevents too great bank angles, and will disengage before stalling.

You can turn it off in the Settings→Autoplot Menu by changing Stability Augmentation to Manual

Gear, Chute, and Speedbrake are usually controlled by the Autopilot, but you can set them to Manual if you prefer.