system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ElI5 Why was the shuttle's insturmentation (layout, technology, etc) so similar to that of your everyday A340 even when the two are vastly different?
gpt
The pilot/co-pilot/flight engineer model is well known, well-tested, and still highly applicable. It still has to be flown (mostly for landing; takeoff is largely automated).

The details of each knob or switch may be different but the larger use case is quite similar.

**edit:** also, nearly all of the shuttle commanders and pilots were Air Force or Navy pilots. They already had thousands of hours of experience in that arrangement.