Space Shuttle Altitude/Vertical Velocity Indicator (AVVI) as removed from a high fidelity Space Shuttle simulator.
Displays altitude and altitude rate of the Space Shuttle.
Although a critical part of countless flight simulations, the unit was no longer needed after the Space Shuttle avionics were upgraded to a “glass
cockpit” design (see NASA fact sheet pdf for more about the MEDS upgrade).
Hours meter indicates that this artifact has logged 9,821 hours of use in Space Shuttle simulators and in bench testing.
Retired from space program service in April 2009.
Images of the inside of the unit reveal the individual display tape drive mechanisms and circuits. The tape drives give the displays extended scale ranges.
