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What is the source of the billows of white smoke that are seen when booster rockets ignite upon liftoff of space shuttle?
Some of it is from the vapors produced by the propellants in the solid rocket boosters (SRB's), but much is from the water that is dumped on the launch pad to dampen the vibrations during the launch. The SRB's combust ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, iron oxide, and a polymer. The shuttles main engines use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
Where does the Canadian Space Agency launch shuttles from?
no place, nobody has space shuttles anymore
How many more shuttles are going to launch?
there is going to be one more shuttle launch.
What direction does NASA launch space shuttles?
east
What is an SRB on a space shuttle?
An SRB is an acronym for Solid Rocket Booster. The SRBs are the two white rockets attached to the side of the US Space Shuttle's external fuel tank. They weigh about 1,300,000 pounds each at launch and stand almost 150 feet high. The provide power for the first two minutes of powered flight. Each SRB produces approximately 2,800,000 pounds of thrust, about 83% of the space shuttles initial thrust. Additionally, eac SRB is equipped with a Rang Safety System (RSS), an explosive charge to destroy the booster if it were to go out of control. The RSS has only been used once, after the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, when the remaining SRB was terminated 37 seconds after the breakup of the orbiter.
Why do people launch space shuttles into space?
to study Earth and space
How do they get the space shuttle in space?
they have launchers that they use to launch the space shuttles.
What are the names and years of the space shuttles that crashed?
None of them crashed. Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart in 1986 due to a SRB explosion. Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry in 2003 due to a whole in it's left wing from foam from the ET hitting it during launch.
How does the space shuttle launch from earth?
The Shuttles, like most launch vehicles, are essentially controlled explosions, using directed energy from volatile chemical combustion to propel them into space. The Shuttles use 2 external, reusable, Solid Fuel Rocket Boosters (SRB's) which are attached to an external fuel tank which contains separate internal tanks of Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen, as well as other rocket propellants. The SRB's separate from the external tank, deploy parachutes when clear, and are recovered in the ocean by 2 specially designed recovery vessels. The Lox/LH fuel is what the Shuttle Main Engines use for fuel during launch; along with the thrust from the SRB's, it's enough to propel it into orbit, and pretty fast too. Watching a Shuttle launch on TV is deceiving, since NASA's long-range cameras keep the Shuttle in view for a lot longer than the visible eye can see it from Kennedy Space Center. Seeing a launch from KSC, the Shuttle is out of view within less than 90 seconds, even at night. The launch facility is pretty interesting; the Shuttles are moved from the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB), originally built to assemble the Saturn V Moon rockets, on a huge crawler that serves as its launch platform, out to one of 2 main pads at KSC, Pad 39A or 39B. There is a huge concrete engine blast redirection/water muffler system in place below where the Shuttle sits; just prior to Main Engine/SRB ignition, water from a huge tank is dumped into the area just below the Shuttle to muffle the noise from the engines and SRB's. The white cloud seen at launch isn't from the engines or SRB's; it's from the water being turned to steam. Without the water system, the launch noise would be much louder than it is already. There is also an Astronaut Emergency Egress System in place on the service gantry, which is a long cable slide system that takes them to an Armored Personnel Carrier located on the ground a few hundred yards away. It's more psychological than practical though. What most people don't know also is that the entire service gantry that fuels and provides service access to the Shuttle must be completely repainted after each launch, since the heat from the engines SRB's burns off most of the paint, and blackens the rest that isn't.
Where did NASA used to build its space shuttles up until now. Was it Florida or Houston?
The Space Shuttles were originally built by the United Space Alliance, a team of contractors who built and assembled the Shuttles prior to delivery to NASA. After delivery, they were assembled for launch and space orbit at Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) prior to each launch. Each Shuttle after returning from orbit would go through a major systems check and key parts would be serviced and maintained prior to gearing up for the next launch. The process took months; a few weeks prior to launch, a Shuttle was lifted into place in the VAB, onto the crawler (a large pad that carried the Shuttle to the launch pads), adding the SRB's, payload into the cargo bay, and all its final systems checks. All pre-launch activities were handled at KSC; at Shuttle launch (T +1 on the mission clock) Shuttle mission control was handed over from KSC to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Where did the space shuttles launch from?
Cape Canaveral, Florida, Kennedy Space Center.
How many space shuttles have there been launch up to now in the Kennedy space?
5 different space shuttles have been launched on 129 missions.
