Questions tagged [space-shuttle]
The Space Shuttle was a crewed, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft operated by NASA from 1981 to 2011.
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Why was it necessary to monitor the water quantity in the space shuttle?
In space shuttle's operators manual, Page(4.1-4), it is written as:
The H2O quantity is determined by a PVT calculation based on H2O tank pressure and
temperature transducer readings as well as GN2 ...
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Could fuel cells of the Space Shuttles have been restarted in the case of a total power failure?
Reading the flight crew operating manual of the Space Shuttle I discovered that:
The three fuel cells could have been stopped and restarted (unlike previous Apollo missions)
The fuel cell start ...
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Did any Columbia debris continue orbiting Earth?
For reentry the Space Shuttles lowered their perigee to 28 nautical miles (52 km) above sea level. Shuttle Columbia disintegrated around 60 km altitude, and the first debris fell off as high as 70.5 ...
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Heatshield during re-entry of space vehicles
All the CMs for Apollo, as well as the space shuttles, basically used "Blunt body" technique for re-entry. While Apollo CMs used "ablative" type of heatshield, the space shuttles ...
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How could Shuttle orbiter with internal airlock dock with ISS or other space stations and were internal airlocks used for missions with spacelabs?
As you can see in this animation
time 11:45 >, during latter Shuttle missions EVA airlock was placed in payload bay and used both for docking with ISS (with orbital ...
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How do Spaceship navigate in space?
In Space there is no air to put thrust on any other thing to expect any action-reaction forces. Then how do spacecraft go left or right or are the ineligible to take sharp moves?
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Space Shuttle Challenger bringing back Salyut-7
We know that on February 11 1985, right after the Soviets lost control of their Salyut-7 station. US Space tracking assets also started noticing that the station was starting to tumble.
Kidnapping a ...
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Merging Shuttle and External Tank to reduce reentry heating
The Space Shuttle needed a high-performance heat shield that caused much grief over it's operational life. Having a large surface area on a reentering vehicle reduces temperatures by causing the ...
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Would it have made a difference to the TPS design if the Shuttle used skip reentries?
The Space Shuttle needed silica tiles and carbon-carbon panels to survive the sustained high temperatures of reentry. These materials were fragile and high-maintenance, and this led to the Columbia ...
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Was there any overlap between United Space Alliance and United Launch Alliance?
United Space Alliance was a joint venture including Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, which provided services and operations for the Space Shuttle program.
United Launch Alliance is a joint venture ...
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What potential Shuttle partner did this blue-and-white flag indicate?
This publicity slide from NASA in 1972 (?), explaining how wonderfully useful and flexible the Space Shuttle would be, has an intriguing image in the lower right.
(NASA MH72-5017, via David Portree)
...
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Who's buried in Grant's Tomb? Size of 122 cm conductive spheres charge collection in the Shuttle's Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators?
Why were the three 122-cm diameter conductive spheres for charge collection in the Shuttle's Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators black? links to How did three 1.2 meter spheres and a Xe+ ...
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Why were the three 122-cm diameter conductive spheres for charge collection in the Shuttle's Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators black?
From this answer to How did three 1.2 meter spheres and a Xe+ plasma contactor keep the Shuttle “grounded”? What did they look like?:
STS-45 view of payload bay with this description (emphasis my own)...
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To what precision were the amounts of the Shuttle propellants known? [duplicate]
A previous question reveals that the Shuttle orbiter was weighed before it was moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Presumably, the other dry components of the launch stack (the solid rocket ...
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Did the flare stacks at LC39 have pilot lights?
The liquid hydrogen fuel in the space shuttles would slowly boil off, while they waited on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center launch complex 39A or 39B. The hydrogen vapors were removed by the ...
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Why were the Space Shuttle Orbiter's landing gear not level?
Looking at an image of the orbiter on the ground, it's obvious the nose landing gear is positioned higher than the other landing gear in the wings, making the nose of the orbiter droop down. As far as ...
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Does NASA yet have an official history of the Shuttle?
NASA has official "histories" of many of their past programs. These are more about people and decisions, not technical details.
This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury
On the ...
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Measurement and estimation of temperature of Space Shuttle nose cone during launch and re-entry
During the launch and re-entry of the Space Shuttle, what are the measured and estimated temperatures (or distribution) of the shuttle nose cone as a function of altitude? How is the temperature ...
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Why did the space shuttle's altitude go down after reaching 108,000m?
I recently took a look at this little data sheet by NASA: Math and Science @ Work; Space Shuttle Ascent
Time
Altitude
Velocity
Acceleration
Comment
(s)
(m)
(m/s)
(m/s^2)
20
1244
139
18.62
40
5377
...
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How much longer did Columbia need to survive?
The breakup of Columbia occurred about 15 minutes after entry interface and the key event in this was the loss of hydraulic pressure due to burn through of all three hydraulic lines.
How much longer ...
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Time gap between leaving the Earth's atmosphere and initiation of orbital motion by space shuttle
It is sometimes difficult to imagine for people like me how the space shuttle initiates its orbital motion (at a speed of 17500 km/h).
So when the space shuttle goes out of the Earth's atmosphere, how ...
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Why did the shuttle have rear-view mirrors?
This picture shows a rear-view mirror mounted in front of and to the right of the shuttle pilot (arrow). What's it for - fuzzy dice holder, vanity mirror, or what??
(image from https://images.nasa....
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what is the space shuttle's SRB motor/engine
what is the space shuttle's SRB motor/engine? I do not know how the thrust in the space shuttle's SRB goes out/burns. research shows that it either an engine or motor though I'm not sure.
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How well would Max Faget's April 1, 1969 design for the Space Shuttle have actually worked? What would have been the major problems?
This answer to Who are the actual lead designers of manned spacecraft? says (in its entirety):
Max Faget was involved in the design of every US manned spacecraft flown to date. Mercury, Gemini, ...
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Identifying attitude control mode in GNC software?
Launch vehicles will generally have multiple multiple attitude control modes.
At launch, the engine-gimballing thrust-vectoring system is in charge.
In orbit, the reaction control system is (at least ...
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Exact condition for hold-down release?
I've read the space-shuttle hold-down clamps would be released once all engines registered 90% of nominal thrust.
But would this be sufficient condition to open the hold-down clamps and release the ...
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Space shuttle digital signal processor (DSP): floating point or fixed point?
Digital signal processors can represent irrational numbers using fixed-point or floating-point data types.
Fixed point means fixed number of decimal places, and floating point means floating number of ...
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Space shuttle MECO condition: velocity threshold or fuel level?
I've read in a place I can no longer remember that MECO would happen when fuel is depleted or, if the separating stage is returning, when fuel reaches some preset threshold---15%, say.
But now... ...
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1answer
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Switching logic between throttle modes?
At launch, a vehicle like the space shuttle would command its throttle to do a few things:
Ramp up to max throttle
Hold max throttle
Follow a throttle bucket as function of velocity when near max-Q
...
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Was anything manufactured at the Michoud facility between Apollo and the Shuttle?
The Michoud Assembly Facility is a manufacturing complex in New Orleans owned by NASA.
During the Apollo program, the first stages of the Saturn I, IB, and V rockets were built there.
During the ...
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Launch escape sequence of events?
Follow up to previous question:
Suppose a critical failure triggers the launch escape sequencing controller.
A two-engine failure, say, or an attitude error rate in excess of some 5 deg/s in roll (as ...
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From attitude control malfunction to launch escape Go signal?
I’ve seen and read about launch failures caused by crossed thrust vectoring wires which fed rock and tilt commands to the wrong engine gimbal actuators (rock command going to tilt cylinder and tilt ...
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Interpolation method in pitchover maneuver: what type?
Consider the space shuttle or the Saturn V.
Launch would begin with an open-loop pitch schedule obtained from simulation with the day’s winds.
The pitch schedule would be specified as a lookup table ...
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How much did NASA pay Roscosmos for the Soyuz to provide assured crew return services
The STS orbiter wasn't able to stay on orbit for very long, and the ISS had an SOP of having a return seat for each body on the station, so during the years of the Shuttle performing crew rotation ...
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Logic sequencing: From fault detection to launch escape?
So I'm working on fault insertion for my launch simulation.
It's basic: I flip a switch to kill the booster engines of my choice.
If two or more engines die, separation is triggered and the launch ...
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Drag and lift coefficient tables/plots for Saturn V/Space Shuttle/Other
I'm looking for drag and lift coefficient data to plug into my launch simulation.
I could assume constant coefficients, but I'd like to structure my model to accept lookup tables, so I'm looking for ...
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Which was louder, SRBs or SSMEs?
The space shuttle's SRBs each produced ~2x the thrust of the three main engines. Which source produced the majority of the sound volume at liftoff?
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Correcting Accelerometer Readings when Offset from Center of Mass: How?
A follow-up to an earlier question.
So I've accepted that I need to correct my accelerometer readings for the accelerometer offset from the center of mass.
The offset means that whenever the rocket ...
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1answer
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How were winds measured for ascent trajectory calculations and checks for the Space Shuttle?
The Space Shuttle's ascent trajectory was calculated on the day of launch based on measured winds to avoid structural load exceedances. The winds continued to be measured until shortly before launch ...
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Is space shuttle simulator in a museum somewhere?
Really curious if the space shuttle launch simulators are in a museum somewhere for visitors to see and learn more about? Also curious if maybe there is a technical book on those simulators?
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Jimsphere example data for wind speed/direction vs altitude?
I've added load relief to my thrust-vector controller (TVC) and would like to simulate it with some realistic wind data, ideally up to 80 km or higher.
I know wind speed and direction would be ...
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1answer
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Maximum lateral loads on space shuttle during launch?
The space shuttle TVC controller included an acceleration term which kicked in above 547 ft/s to alleviate side loads caused by wind shear, etc. The acceleration term basically allowed the shuttle to ...
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Name for PID control with acceleration term?
The space shuttle TVC controller used a PID control scheme with an acceleration term for load management at high dynamic pressures. The acceleration term would be ramped up at 547 ft/s (before max Q) ...
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What was the STS mid-deck cargo capacity?
What was the normal cargo capacity of the Shuttle mid-deck, in terms of mass and volume?
STS-135 apparently carried more than usual in the mid-deck, how much and how?
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Space shuttle control: Holding attitude?
Suppose a space shuttle pilot pressed a button to hold the current attitude---whatever the current roll, pitch, and yaw might be.
How would the attitude error be computed for use by the TVC controller?...
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Space Shuttle SRB Hydraulic Power Unit Controller Schematic: "One Shot" block, what is it?
The space shuttle SRB's Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU) provided hydraulic power to the booster's TVC system. This HPU controller schematic shows "One Shot" blocks that I'm suddenly curious ...
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Was there a mechanism to vent fuel cell reactants on the Shuttle orbiter?
Related to my recent question: Why was the Space Shuttle Orbiter's in-orbit time limited?
I was told a limiting factor to time in orbit is that the cryogenic gases used as reactants by the Shuttle'...
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1answer
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Space shuttle TVC hydraulic line diameter?
Curious what diameter the hydraulic lines of the space shuttle thrust vector control system might have been. Even a ballpark figure would be OK. Is this info by chance public?
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Why was the Space Shuttle Orbiter's in-orbit time limited?
I remember reading/watching that the Shuttle had a limited time to stay in orbit. And that's why Soyuzes were the only Assured Crew Return Vehicles (ACRV) for the International Space Station until ...
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Space Shuttle: What are the filters in the attitude error calculation?
Here's a schematic from the space shuttle training manuals showing how the "attitude" error signal used to drive the thrust vector controllers was determined.
"Attitude" in quote ...