This is an "early" Happy New Year so that we catch our friends Down Under and Far East before 2010 is upon us all. We want to thank you all for your support, friendship and for an exciting year in Space Exploration and Space Simulation.

We are looking forward towards an even more exciting 2010 as we lay ground for the n...ext major release of the Space Shuttle Mission simulator.

So Happy New Year mates and Happy New Year to the whole world once the globe completes a full revolution and 2010 is well under way for everybody!

See you in 2010! Happy New Year!

//The SSM Crew//

Christmas mission has been relased! It's the Ares I-X Test Launch!

We are happy to release today, the surprise Christmas Mission Pack 5.00 for the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 simulator:

the Ares I-X Test Launch

The Ares I-X Test Launch mission contains real NASA comms from one hour before liftoff, until 10 minutes after liftoff. It shows all the events from liftoff, during flight, SEP, and splashdown, including the failed deployment of the third chute. The mission slide-shows between the various fixed observer KSC cameras, providing an experience similar to watching NASATV, but with the added advantage of being able to zoom in and follow Ares I-X during all the mission phases.
Please note that we also released a new Commander's Reference Manual v3.7 to cover the new addition in Appendix A. Make sure you download nd read it before you run the game.
We hope you enjoy this new twist and appreciate what the SSM2007 engine is capable of.

We wish you all a

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Watch the new SSM YouTube Channel

The Space Shuttle Mission Simulator has a channel on YouTube.

You are all invited to subscribe and follow it up as we'll be updating it with new and cool videos which show off the simulator's capabilities, or with training material.

Stay tuned on: http://www.youtube.com/user/SpaceShuttleMission

New Features (mini) Pack v4.25 and Commander's Reference Manual v3.6 released today

We are happy to release today a new mini-Pack with some cool goodies to get you through to Christmas when we will be releasing the next Mission Pack - the last for 2009.

This new mini-Pack contains some cool features to assist with the docking procedure, and some more eye candy to boot:

• Added: ISS PMA ACSMI LEDs active and reflect the ISS ACS Modding
• Added: Docking distance to PMA callouts-Added: Docking guidance callouts
• Change: Additional improvements to the ISS 3D model, mainly textures, bump maps and shaders.

The new Commander's Reference Manual v3.6 includes all the additions and changes up to and including SSM v4.25, and above (until further notice). Make sure you download it and check page 123 for the "changes from version 3.5" table.

Free Features Pack v4.20 Released

Exciting Simulations has released today a new free Features Pack v4.20 for the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 simulator.

The new Features Pack contains many graphical additions and changes:

• The ISS and solar panels attitude match the historical data
• Virtual cockpit + Astronauts visible from outside.
• Significant improvements to the ISS 3D model – more detail, accuracy and high resolution textures and bump maps.
• New and more accurate Zvezda and Zarya modules.
• Improvements to the Space Shuttle 3D model – more detail.
• New ISS docking assistance: CCTV reticule and PMA ACSMI LEDs

New SSM Demo released today

Exciting Simulations has released today a new free demo for the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 simulator.

As before, the demo still contains only the STS-1 mission without time limits, but now it includes all the cool performance, optimization, graphics and functional improvements added to the simulator ever since it has been released. The demo now better reflects the current status of the sim.

New naming scheme for SSM updates

The Ground Crew team decided to change the naming scheme for the monthly updates that it has been releasing ever since Space Shuttle Mission simulator has been launched.

The generic name "Service Pack" has not been true to the content of the updates which practically added real game play value, cool new features and new content to the simulator. While the naming "add-on" crossed our mind, it has been found to be too generic to be descriptive enough. Therefore we went for a different but much more clear scheme:

• The updates containing new features, will be referred to as "Features Pack" (FP).
• The updates containing a new mission will be referred to as "Mission Pack" (MP).
• Mixed updates (which include a new mission and new features) will be named "Mission Pack" since it is very likely that the new mission addition is the more significant part of the update.
• Version numbers will be kept as before: Mission Pack 4.10 may be followed by Features Pack 4.20 and so on, with the short version of the naming scheme being MP4.10 and FP4.20 respectively. This will maintain version consistency across the different packs.

Both the Features and Mission packs may or may not also include changes to existing features and missions, and of course miscellaneous fixes.