Understanding the Space Shuttle Checklists

Here you will find all the materials/condensed checklist that you need for the differents phases of flight.

You can find the real one here, called Flight Data Files ( FDF) https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news/flightdatafiles/

Here are my annotated FDF:
Ascent Checklist https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByWr8dBBzTv3NDlCNktMX2tTa0E/view
Post insertion Checklist https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByWr8dBBzTv3OEt1RzFfcFV4NFk/view

From 230 pages for ascent FDF, we go to less than 30 pages. A huge amount of datas of those FDF are for non-normal situations. It was important to have a quick look to know what to do in case of Engine failure for example. Ascent checklist is pretty straight forward, reading from up to bottom with time of actions, where to look ( panels R2, L2, O 14 etc), and what to do.

Sometimes, a square root √ is preceding an item. It means " check that ( monitor)". For example, √ Evap out=60° means Check that the evap out of the Freon is around 60°

A special note for Post insertion Checklist. It's a bit different than previous one. In this one, Commander, Pilot, Mission Specialist are supposed to do differents things in the cockpit, so the checks can be a bit weird to read at first glance. Here some hints:

On the left, there is the timeline of the mission, in Mission Elapsed Time since lift off. Panel where to look is also shown ( R2, O12, etc)

Also, C P or MS is used to define who will do the actions ( Captain, Pilot, Specialist). Obviously here, it's gonna be us

You see for example at Star Tracker activation, there is a rectangle with a number ( 12) and a page number 1-6 It's gonna be where you have to look to have the full procedure, we are at page 1-7 so we have to go back one page before to have the procedure for Star Tracker activation. Same logic for almost all the others actions with a rectangle and page reference at the right of the line.

All those checklists contain a lot of informations and actions that are not critical for flight safety. The ones to perform absolutely are present in game via Help menu and Checklist.

Some very usefull Screens, sum up of all shortcuts to navigate in differents parts of the GPC GNC and SM functions