THE SPACE
SHUTTLE
Shuttle Take Off
T-31s ground computer system hands
over to shuttle system
T-16s sound suppression system soaks
the launch pad with water – prevents
sound and heat energy damaging the
shuttle
T-10s Hydrogen igniters are activated
T-6.6s three space shuttle main engines
start up. All three must reach 100% thrust
in 3 seconds
T-0s solid rocket boosters ignite. This is
point of no return, they cannot be switched
off
The exit tubes for
the three main
space shuttle
engines.
During re-entry
the shuttle gets
very hot –
reaching
temperatures up
to 1500 oC
Thrusters reduce speed slightly from orbit speed of 28,000 km/h
Shuttle enters atmosphere inclined at 40o to slow down – this is 120 km
above Earth
The shuttle flies in big S-shaped curves to slow down dramatically in the
thicker air of the atmosphere
12 km from the runway and 3 km high, the shuttle deploys its flaps to
slow from 682 km/h to 346 km/h
A typical jet plane touches down at 260 km/h
A big parachute is deployed when the shuttle touches down
and detaches automatically when the shuttle has slowed to
110 km/h
The shuttle brakes until it comes to a full stop and needs to
rest a few minutes to cool down before the crew can leave
Weather Conditions
No rain at the launch pad or on the flight path
No lightning within 5 nautical miles
No lightning causing clouds within 10 nautical
miles
No cloud cover at all up to 2,500m
Wind of less than 30 knots
Previous 24 hours must have an average
temperature above 5oC
Temperature on the day must remain between
5oC and 37oC.
EARTH and the SUN
The Earth is 149,600,000 km away from
the Sun
To get there on the shuttle would take
5,343 hours
or 223 days
EARTH and the SOLAR SYSTEM
EDGE
The Earth is 13 billion km from the edge of
the solar system
To travel there on the shuttle would take
464,286 hours
or 19,345 days
or 53 years
EARTH and the NEAREST STAR
The nearest star to Earth is called Proxima
Centauri (also known as Alpha Centauri C)
Proxima Centauri is now 4.24 light years
from Earth
If we travelled there
in a shuttle it would take
1,432,635,429 hours
or 59,693,143 days
or 163,543 years
What if we took a faster space-craft?
Voyager I travels at 62,000 km/h
To get to the sun would take 100.5 days
To get to the edge of the solar system
would take 24 years
To get to Proxima Centauri would now
take 74,000 years
What if we took a faster space-craft?
Helios 2 has set a record for space travel,
going at 253,000 km/h
To get to the sun would now take 25 days
To get to the edge of the solar system
would take 5.9 years
To get to Proxima Centauri would now
take 18,000 years
Not as far away as it seems
Space seems a long way away right now.
BUT:
Humanity has come a long way very fast
in 50 years we went from
the first flight ever to
putting a man on the moon
We can travel 1000 times as fast now as
we could then
Who knows where we’ll be in another 50
years?