an apparently outlandish joke could be pulled off (the show claimed that Neil Armstrong had offered to eat his astronaut helmet if the show was successful). Particularly questioned was how weightlessness, which would be present in a real space flight, would be handled on a ground-based set. The Cadets were told that they would be in "near space" (as opposed to "outer space"), causing only a 30% loss of gravity, which was compensated by "gravity generators" built into the ship; this highly improbable explanation was believed (for this to be true, a person would need to be stationary relative to Earth at roughly 1200 km above sea level, which in turn would require continuous propulsion to maintain position). Location The Space Cadets were initially assembled at Biggin Hill airfield, London, before being flown to Lydd on the south east coast of England. This air-hop would normally take just 15 minutes, but thanks to a specially convoluted flight plan over the North Sea it lasted four hours. Upon arrival at Lydd the cadets were told they had reached Volgograd. The Cadets had been relieved of their watches prior to the flight to prevent them noticing the absent time difference. They were then transferred by helicopter to RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk, which they had been led to believe was the Space Tourism Academy of Russia (STAR) facility in the town of Krymsk. Training location During the four-week period the Cadets were living on-site; their barracks and the academy building where they received their training are situated within the wooded dispersal area, which is on the south west of the airbase. Simulator The shuttle simulator was assembled in a soundproofed hangar which was constructed within RAF Bentwaters, c. 1991. The shuttle was given the name of Earth Orbiter 1 which was used as the spacecraft's call sign. The simulator was a wooden replica built by Wonderworks Inc. of Canoga Park, California for the film Deep Impact. The simulator also subsequently featured in Armageddon, Rocket's Red Glare, Space Cowboys and Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, as well as commercials for IBM and Slim Jims. As the Cadets spent five days inside the simulator, there was considerable attention and budget given to its plausibility, including extensive surround sound, pneumatic cushions, and a custom-built projector screen to display CGI graphics of the Earth's surface. The hangar, called Hush House, is formed from insulated stainless steel walls and