I know I am going to get absolutely hammered for this suggestion by the more dedicated of this community but I will make it anyway:
One of the main issues I repeatedly have with playing SSM2007 is that I dont have enough time. Just going through all the button pressing takes an age and its actually the launch, in mission bits and landing that are the most interesting to me.
So I was wondering if you had considered allowing people to skip through all the button pressing intermediate parts and just concentrate on the take off, missions and landings? I suppose this would be almost like assuming you are the commander/payload specialist and do the important bits and your copilot does most of the other button pressing for you? This would enable a rapid gameplay and probably enable play through of a mission in a single night (2-3 hrs) and would include all the interesting bits.
I think this would potentially open up this sim to a heck of a lot more gamers and also would enable people like myself who have family and jobs to play the game during weekdays without dedicating 5 hrs to a single mission.
Considering most/all of the button pressing is pretty repetitive and methodical I am sure there will be people who would love to skip it. I know its the bulk of the gameplay for a lot of people on here, and I do enjoy it from time to time myself, but you know games should be playable by as wide an audience as possible, not just the dedicated gamers with lots of time on their hands (ie students). I don't see any downside to allowing this sort of gameplay. It would still be an incredibly serious simulation of the shuttle, but even in the real shuttle one person doesn't do everything....