Does it have an “O2 TANK STIR” button? Because he’s gonna need one as soon as he watches Apollo 13.
I added such a button to the radio telescope I work on. It comes in handy now and then.
very cool, but i have to imagine that dad’s employer has a lot of “surplus” parts
RTFA - he got a $350 credit (and spent it in the coolest manner possible).
I was also wondering whether the displays should use nixie tubes for the period look
But really dad is cooler than I will ever be.
Watch again starting at 3:57
I did a little computer simulated aging on this kid and this is what he looks like in 20 years:
Forget the kid, I want one of these babies for me hahaha. Oh man, I think the dad had more fun with this bad boy than his child. Omg did I mention this is awesome?
Simultaneous thoughts:
“Wow, I wish I had one of those when I was a kid!”
“Wow, I wish I had a dad like that when I was a kid!”
“My dad objectively sucked.”
I thought I was a good father, but I admit defeat.
It’s not too late. 
Of course the Raspberry Pi is more powerful than the Apollo Guidance Computer in the Command module.
Yes it is, there’s no way to impress a teen.
I wasn’t impressed so much as stunned into silence.
When he got to “SCE to AUX”, I had a heart attack.
Awesome.
When I was a kid, I used to love going to the Sikorsky Museum, I could sit in the helicopter and flick switches. This kid can do the same thing at home.
Even though I had layouts for those sorts of switches
Mars 1 crew manual
Space Shuttle Operators Manual
There’s something about the tactile sensation of playing with actual control panels.
The effort involved shows a lot of love. The toy itself misunderstands the role of imagination in play. If you spend one afternoon pretending that the big box your fridge came in is a space shuttle, you’d probably give more real play to your child than this amazing toy.
I bought a lot of clever plastic for my boys when they were children. The thing they got more real play value out of was a big cardboard box house which served as shop, “safe place” for games of tag, hidey hole and cover. It cost nothing except an afternoon making a door and window with a sharp knife.
Yes definitely all for the kid to play with. Not the dad building it for himself at all…
Well there’s nothing wrong with a father trying to share his love of (The Apollo program/baseball/model railroads/Gilbert and Sullivan/whatever) with his kid. At least not until it gets to forcing him to do stuff level rather than the exposing him to cool things stage.
Your statement makes sense if the child was left alone while dad went out and built this. But if dad did this without negatively impacting playtime with their kid in order to inspire and share a love of something, is that so wrong?
It turns out my kid likes live theatre, should I only give them a box to do their own shows in or take them to see professional shows as well? There is room for both.
