In perhaps an unintended degree of verisimilitude to the actual shuttle launch experience, a lot of the time on the Shuttle Launch Experience ride is spent waiting. As you wait on the gantry, monitors show a video where former astronauts describe what it was like for them to fly on the shuttle.
The galaxy we live in, called the Milky Way Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy composed of at least 100 billion stars. It is approximately 100,000 light years across and about 1000 light years thick. It has a central bulge that is about 10,000 light years in diameter.
As for how our galaxy got its name, it is indeed because of its milky appearance as it stretches across the sky. While spotting the galaxyâs arms is a challenge from our current light-polluted centers, if you get out to a more rural area it really begins to dominate the skies.