Space Shuttle

I believe we already can or be super close. Its just not public yet. There has to be a bigger reason why we quit space travel. I mean there's no reason we should stop space is huge and it needs to be explored. So yes I think there can be.

It takes approximately 3 days for a space shuttle to reach the moon from Earth. This timeline includes the launch, travel time, and lunar orbit insertion.

spacecraft commander: Francis R. (dick) Scobee, pilot: Michael J. Smith, 3 mission specialists: Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, & Ellison S. Onizuka, 2 crew members: Gregory B Jarvis, Sharon Christa McAuliffe

The first American space shuttle, Columbia, went into space on April 12, 1981.

The space shuttle that exploded upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere in 2003 was the Space Shuttle Columbia. The disaster resulted in the loss of all seven crew members on board.

Christa Mcauliffe, Francis R. "Dick" Scobee (mission commander), Michael J. Smith, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik. Were the ones on board when it exploded.

The first stage of a multi-stage rocket is called the booster stage. It is responsible for providing the initial thrust needed to lift the rocket off the ground and begin the ascent to space. Once its fuel is expended, it separates from the rocket to reduce weight and allow the next stage to continue the journey.

Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ron McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis

In 1979, Space Shuttle Enterprise, mounted on top of a specially-modified 747, stopped overnight in Atlanta for refueling and cargo checks.

Enterprise was a test article, it never went into space.

Atlanta Airport is not suitable for landing a reentering space shuttle.

challenger and the Columbia

It's high enough into space and far enough away over the Atlantic ocean by that time that the cameras can't see it. You can see launch video but space isn't a hard boundary. Oftentimes the astronauts' shades might be closed due to sunlight because they don't have to see what's outside on the way up.

NASA says space begins at 122 kilometers (76 miles). This specific number is the approximate boundary where the atmosphere begins to exert noticeable drag on an object so it's based on a scientific fact.

The USA says space begins at 80 kilometers (50 miles) and says anyone who passes this altitude is an astronaut.

Thus, there's no clear cut determination of where space really begins. The atmosphere extends much farther than 76 miles and fades away.

As of March 2010, no Americans have died in space. Space is defined as 62 miles above sea level. Several astronauts have died in spaceflight-related disasters. In 1967, the 3-man crew of Apollo 1 died during a fire on the launchpad. In 1986, the 7-member crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger died during launch. Challenger was still far from reaching space. In 2003, the 7-member crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia died during re-entry. By the time the vehicle broke apart, the crew was below the 62 mile mark.

The external fuel tank of the space shuttle cannot be reused. It is a one-time use component that is jettisoned and burns up in the atmosphere upon reentry.

The first manned shuttle to actually reach Space was Columbia aka OV-102. The first mission was called STS-1 and there were two astronauts - Commander John Young and pilot Bob Crippen.

Not very far.

The International Space Station is in an orbit about 350 km (217 miles) above the earth's surface ...

roughly the distance between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The moon is about 1,100 times as far away, and the sun is about 425,000 times as far away.

You can't get to Jupiter using the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle is not designed to leave Earth's orbit (it doesn't have the thrust to reach Earth's escape velocity) and in fact flies at quite a low altitude compared to other satellites out there.

MECO stands for "Main Engine Cutoff". At this point, the shuttle is flying only with its three main engines. At MECO a sequence of events happens including throttling power back on the engines and the final result is that the main engines of the shuttle are shut down. Soon after this, the external tank is cut free since it's now mostly drained of fuel and oxidizer.

Rockets consume a wide variety of fuel. One standard rule is that there must be an oxidizer and a fuel.

The most simple formula is hydrogen burning with oxygen, which produces water vapor (H2+O2 -->H2O). The Space Shuttle burns hydrogen and oxygen in its main engines, the solid rocket boosters burn ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, iron oxide, a polymer of some kind, and epoxy.

The V2 rocket from World War II burned an ethanol/water mix and liquid oxygen (C2H6O+H2O+O2-->CO2+H20). The water was meant to slow the reaction.

The Apollo Lunar Lander used Aerozine 50 (C2H8N2+H4N2) and Nitrogen Tetroxide (N2O4).

The Columbia Space Shuttle crew noticed the damage to the spacecraft during re-entry on February 1, 2003. The damage was caused by a piece of foam insulation that struck the shuttle's wing during liftoff.

There are a lot of systems in the orbiter to control and monitor!

There's stuff for the shuttle: The flight systems, the environmental controls, power to the different parts of the shuttle, fuel systems, communications systems of all flavors and types, navigation, many computers, and of course all the redundant backups that go with it!

Then there's the stuff that is used to control systems like the external tank, the SRBs, the gantry, etc.

That's not to say about the power and control for the experiments they have on board plus the remote arm in the cargo bay.

Single stage rockets are simpler, cheaper, and have fewer components, making them easier to design and build. On the other hand, multi stage rockets are more efficient as they discard empty fuel tanks during flight, reducing the weight carried to space and increasing overall speed. This allows multi stage rockets to reach higher velocities and altitudes compared to single stage rockets.

The International Space Station (ISS) was not invented, but rather it was a collaborative project involving multiple countries. The ISS program was officially launched in 1998 with the assembly of various modules in space, with the first crew occupying the station in 2000. The ISS serves as a unique scientific laboratory for international research in microgravity environments.

The first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched from Kennedy Space Center located in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Kennedy Space Center has been the primary launch site for all U.S. human spaceflights since the early 1960s.

There have been six Space Shuttles.

The first space shuttle is named Enterprise. Enterprise was built without engines or a heat shield and was used only as a test vehicle. It never flew into space. Enterprise was originally going to be called Constitution, however a write-in campaign by Star Trek fans caused NASA to name it after the fictional Starship Enterprise. The space shuttle Enterprise is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

The second was named Columbia. Columbia was the first space shuttle to be sent into space. Columbia was named two vessels. The first wass the Boston-based ship Columbia which was captained by Robert Gray. In the 1790s, it explored the Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe. The second was the Apollo 11 command module Columbia. It carried the astronauts who made the first moon landing in 1969. The space shuttle Columbia was destroyed in an accident while returning to Earth in 2003.

The third was named Challenger. Challenger was named after two vessels. The first was the HMS Challenger, a British corvette that was the command ship of the Challenger expedition from 1872 to 1876. The expedition conducted pioneering global marine research. The second was the Apollo 17 lunar module Challenger, which landed on the Moon in 1972. The space shuttle Challenger was destroyed in an accident at lift-off in 1986.

The fourth is named Discovery. Discovery is named after the HMS Discovery, which was commanded by Captain James Cook during his third and final major voyage from 1776-1779 which explored the South Pacific and discovered the Hawaiian Islands. The space shuttle Discovery is currently operational and scheduled to make two final spaceflights (STS-131 and STS-133) before being retired in late 2010.

The fifth is named Atlantis. Atlantis is named after the RV Atlantis, the primary research vessel of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute from 1930 to 1966. It was the first US vessel to be used for oceanographic research. The space shuttle Atlantis is currently operational and scheduled to make one final flight (STS-132) in May of 2010 before being retired.

The sixth is named Endeavour. Endeavour is named after the British HMS Endeavour, commanded by captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery from 1768-1771. The name Endeavour was selected through a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools. Entries included an essay about the name, the story behind it, and why it was appropriate for a NASA shuttle. Endeavour was the most popular entry. The space shuttle Endeavour is currently operational and is scheduled to make one final flight (STS-134) in July of 2010 before being retired.

Yes, both Voyager spacecraft travel much faster than the space shuttle. The space shuttle only needs to travel about 5 miles per second to achieve Low-Earth-Orbit. Voyager 1 travels at over 10 miles per second.