New answers tagged space-shuttle
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I think SpaceX footage of reentering main booster are the only "full reentry videos" available as of now.
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Probably you'd have a much smaller wing.
The shuttle that was built had as a requirement the ability to launch into polar orbit from Vandenburg in California, do something sneaky (possibly even steal someone else's satellite) and then have the cross range to glide with a full payload bay against the earth's rotation far enough to land back the west coast the ...
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NONE of the technological constraints of the shuttle are "State of the art" just integrated in such a way they're vastly complicated to maintain. But some technical features
modern computers instead of the AP101
Update avionics (automated landing)
Aluminum Oxynitride windows
Metallic/composite as opposed to ceramic heat shield
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The original goal of the shuttle was to have a reusable and therefore cheap launch system. (They failed at the 'cheap' part.) Currently SpaceX with their reusable rockets and their Starship they are developing are far on the way of making that a reality. Their rockets land vertically instead of horizontally, which turns out to be better because you don't ...
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I found a nice article about the evolution of the IUS in this issue of the Crosslink newsletter.
Originally, NASA intended to develop a reusable "space tug" that could deliver satellites from the relatively low orbits reachable by STS to geosynchronous and other high orbits. This was a big concept that was going to take years to develop, so NASA ...
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Upon reaching Low Earth Orbit, the Shuttle has Used most of the fuel it took to get up their. It now rides solely on inertia and orbits the Earth. The Shuttle Orbiter weighs over 80 tons! The Apollo spacecraft weighted 25 tons including the lander. The shuttles weight compared to it's volume negates any fuel carrying capacity to escape orbit and go to the ...
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One of the major errors in the Space Transportation System (STS) design was the lack of a crew escape system usable from launch to landing.
Escape systems are costly, take up mass allowance that can be used for payload, and can cause problems on their own. The STS designers had an idée fixe that STS would be an "airliner to space" and would ...
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Similar systems certainly exist but not at this scale
Some spherical cow approximations - a parachute for a 70kg human weighs 14kg, giving 0.2kg of parachute per kg of payload.
The dry mass of the shuttle was around 165000kg, take 1/4 of that for mass of the crew section minus wings and fuselage for 41250kg gives a very approximate parachute weight of 8,...
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To land any lander on the Moon one must fully use some kind of a rocket engine. These engines are characterized on Earth and the thrust is understood, and a careful trajectory is determined.
To land on Mars is quite a bit trickier, but uses less energy. Basically there is a 3 stage landing system for every US lander. The first is to use a heat shield to slow ...
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Windows are kept small because they are heavy
Windows need to be thick enough to survive micrometeoroid impacts and the stresses of spaceflight, and to provide radiation protection. They also need cushioning and seals. This makes a window heavier than the equivalent area of sheet metal bulkhead.
The Shuttle needed just the delta-v to get into low Earth ...
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The space shuttles, had a viewing window much similar in looks […] like the cockpit of a plane.
The Space Shuttles were planes. The others weren't. Hence it makes sense to have airplane-like windows, and it makes sense that the others don't need them.
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The vehicles had different requirements.
The CM splashed down in the ocean, the LM landed vertically on the moon, the shuttle landed on a runway.
Requirements drive design.
See also Do windows in space stations, the space shuttle, other spacecraft have practical usage?
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On February 24 1997, on the Mir space station, fire ignited in the solid fuel oxygen generator in the Kvant-1 module.
Nasa astronaut Jerry Linenger was on board the station at that time. Here is an excerpt of an interview that took place two months later, on March 21st (emphasis mine):
Afterwards, being a physician I was very concerned with crew health. We ...
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If you'll accept a lot of carelessness:
There's a piece of debris in the one of the compartments of the external tank. It gets sucked across the feed line.
Note that it doesn't need to block the whole connection (which would probably cause a catastrophic water hammer), just impede it enough the engines shut down because they're not getting enough.
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One of the Space Shuttle simulators flew
The Shuttle Training Aircraft was a Grumman Gulfstream II that was heavily modified so that pilots could train to land the shuttle in an aircraft that had similar flight characteristics to the real shuttle (when landing). It extended the gear and ran the engines with the thrust reversers engaged so that it could ...
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Beside the good answers (I like this) you already have, there is still an important fact left uncovered:
All the answers I read are just about launch costs, but there is also the factor price of the payload.
When taking a payload to space with the space shuttle, the payload has to be certified for human space flight having effects on every nut and bolt and ...
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