Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space

Emergency Landing

During the development of the simulator, one of Activision's testers landed the Shuttle using just the smaller engines, which are normally only used for minor adjustments.

Steve Kitchen was puzzled that the simulated shuttle would allow that to happen, so he went back to NASA and asked them to try the same thing on their own simulators. They concurred that it was indeed possible, and so landing the shuttle in an emergency using the smaller engines was added to the actual Space Shuttle’s emergency procedures manual! (From the Bird Sanctuary)

Activision patches

Player who completed 5 docking mission with 4500 units of fuel left could send in a photo of their TV screens and get a Space Shuttle Pilot patch. Players who completed 6 docking missions with 7500 units of fuel left could get a Space Shuttle Commander patch.