Editing Space Shuttle (section)

====Crew compartment====
The crew compartment comprised three decks and was the pressurized, habitable area on all Space Shuttle missions. The flight deck consisted of two seats for the commander and pilot, as well as an additional two to four seats for crew members. The mid-deck was located below the flight deck and was where the galley and crew bunks were set up, as well as three or four crew member seats. The mid-deck contained the airlock, which could support two astronauts on an [[extravehicular activity]] (EVA), as well as access to pressurized research modules. An equipment bay was below the mid-deck, which stored environmental control and waste management systems.<ref name= shuttle_manual />{{rp|60–62}}<ref name=jenkins />{{rp|365–369}}

On the first four Shuttle missions, astronauts wore modified U.S. Air Force high-altitude full-pressure suits, which included a full-pressure helmet during ascent and descent. From the fifth flight, [[STS-5]], until the loss of ''Challenger'', the crew wore one-piece light blue [[nomex]] flight suits and partial-pressure helmets. After the ''Challenger'' disaster, the crew members wore the Launch Entry Suit (LES), a partial-pressure version of the high-altitude pressure suits with a helmet. In 1994, the LES was replaced by the full-pressure [[Advanced Crew Escape Suit]] (ACES), which improved the safety of the astronauts in an emergency situation. ''Columbia'' originally had modified [[SR-71]] [[zero-zero ejection seat]]s installed for the [[Approach and Landing Tests|ALT]] and first four missions, but these were disabled after STS-4 and removed after [[STS-9]].<ref name=jenkins />{{rp|370–371}}

[[File:STSCPanel.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The view from the Atlantis cockpit while in orbit|''[[Space Shuttle Atlantis|Atlantis]]'' was the first Shuttle to fly with a [[glass cockpit]], on [[STS-101]].]]
The flight deck was the top level of the crew compartment and contained the flight controls for the orbiter. The commander sat in the front left seat, and the pilot sat in the front right seat, with two to four additional seats set up for additional crew members. The instrument panels contained over 2,100 displays and controls, and the commander and pilot were both equipped with a [[heads-up display]] (HUD) and a [[Joystick#Electronic joysticks|Rotational Hand Controller]] (RHC) to [[gimbal]] the engines during powered flight and fly the orbiter during unpowered flight. Both seats also had [[rudder]] controls, to allow rudder movement in flight and nose-wheel steering on the ground.<ref name=jenkins />{{rp|369–372}} The orbiter vehicles were originally installed with the Multifunction [[Cathode-ray tube|CRT]] Display System (MCDS) to display and control flight information. The MCDS displayed the flight information at the commander and pilot seats, as well as at the aft seating location, and also controlled the data on the HUD. In 1998, ''Atlantis'' was upgraded with the Multifunction Electronic Display System (MEDS), which was a [[glass cockpit]] upgrade to the flight instruments that replaced the eight MCDS display units with 11 multifunction colored digital screens. MEDS was flown for the first time in May 2000 on [[STS-101]], and the other orbiter vehicles were upgraded to it. The aft section of the flight deck contained windows looking into the payload bay, as well as an RHC to control the [[Remote Manipulator System]] during cargo operations. Additionally, the aft flight deck had monitors for a [[closed-circuit television]] to view the cargo bay.<ref name=jenkins />{{rp|372–376}}

The mid-deck contained the crew equipment storage, sleeping area, galley, medical equipment, and hygiene stations for the crew. The crew used modular lockers to store equipment that could be scaled depending on their needs, as well as permanently installed floor compartments. The mid-deck contained a port-side hatch that the crew used for entry and exit while on Earth.<ref name="jenkins2016"/>{{rp|II–26–33}}