Space Shuttle

The space shuttle fleet was retired due to its high operating costs, safety concerns, and the need to shift focus towards deep space exploration missions. Additionally, the shuttles had been in service for over 30 years and were becoming outdated and expensive to maintain.

The first space shuttle to be built but never flew into space was the Space Shuttle Enterprise. It was used for approach and landing tests during the late 1970s.

As the space shuttle re-enters Earth's atmosphere, it experiences extreme temperatures due to the friction between the air and its surfaces. This friction generates intense heat that can reach over 2,000 degrees Celsius. To protect the shuttle from this heat, special heat-resistant materials like thermal tiles and blankets are used on its surface.

The orbiter itself is 37.24 m in length, the external tank is 46.9m, and the Solid Rocket Boosters are 45.6m.

SUNNYVALE, California, May 1, 1992 -- When the Space Shuttle Endeavour rockets into space on its maiden voyage, it will be protected by ceramic tiles manufactured by Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California. NASA's entire orbiter fleet -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and now Endeavour -- is protected from the searing heat of reentry by Lockheed's Reusable Surface Insulation. Endeavour will be protected with over 26,000 tiles. Earlier orbiters used as many as 34,000 tiles, but as the knowledge base increased, tiles on surfaces that experienced moderate reentry temperatures, such as the upper fuselage, were eventually replaced with flexible insulating blankets.

It depends on the motor. The Space Shuttle's 4-segment motor burns for 124 seconds, for instance. The Atlas V's solid rocket motors burn for 90 seconds. A common size B4 model rocket motor burns for 1 second.

it depends on the size of the rocket, the grain material, and the oxidizer to tell you how long one will burn.

The first space rocket to reach the moon and return safely was Apollo 8, which launched on December 21, 1968. During the mission, astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders orbited the moon before returning to Earth on December 27, 1968.

The outer layer of a space shuttle is typically made of reinforced carbon-carbon and thermal protection tiles. The reinforced carbon-carbon helps protect the shuttle from high temperatures during re-entry, while the thermal protection tiles insulate the shuttle from the intense heat of atmospheric friction.

Many methods and tools are used to investigate planets both from Earth and in space. Telescopes, physics, fly-by missions and Mars and Moon landing equipment are all very useful in studying things outside Earth.

The first ever manned mission was done on April 12, 1961, by Yuri Gagarin (USSR).

You do not actually float. The gravity on the moon is a fraction of what it is on Earth. As a result objects weigh less and fall more slowly. You may feel almost weightless, though you still have some weight.

During liftoff, a space shuttle travels at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h). This speed allows it to overcome Earth's gravity and reach orbit around the planet. The intense acceleration and velocity are necessary for a successful journey to space.

Two space shuttles have experienced catastrophic failures during launch: Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. Both tragedies resulted in the loss of all crew members aboard.

Space shuttles are reusable spacecraft that were used by NASA to transport astronauts and cargo to space. They were launched like a rocket and landed like a glider. The space shuttle program operated from 1981 to 2011.

Space shuttles are used to transport astronauts and cargo to and from space, including missions to the International Space Station. They provide a reusable and cost-effective means of reaching space compared to traditional rockets. Additionally, shuttles have been instrumental in carrying out scientific research, satellite deployment, and servicing missions in space.

The first space probe to fly past the moon was the Soviet Luna 1 probe in 1959. Luna 1, also known as Mechta, was intended to impact the moon but missed and became the first human-made object to escape Earth's gravity.

An Apollo landing involved a capsule re-entering Earth's atmosphere for a water landing, using parachutes to slow its descent. In contrast, a space shuttle landing was a controlled glide to a runway on land, using wings to navigate and land like an airplane. The space shuttle also had the ability to be reused multiple times.

No, as an unaided human, you cannot fly faster than the speed of sound. The speed of sound, approximately 767 mph or 1,235 km/h at sea level, is a limit for objects moving through the air.

Yes, nuclear fuel can be used for space ships to generate power for long-duration missions. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and nuclear fission reactors are two types of nuclear power sources that have been used in space missions to provide electricity and heat for spacecraft and scientific instruments. However, the use of nuclear fuel in space missions presents challenges related to safety, regulations, and potential environmental impacts.

Space shuttles are powered using rocket engines that burn liquid fuel (such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen) or solid rocket boosters. Once out of Earth's atmosphere, the space shuttle relies on these engines to propel itself through space and maneuver in a zero-gravity environment.

As of now, the space shuttle program has been retired and no new shuttles are being built. The last space shuttle was the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which retired in 2011. The focus has shifted towards developing new spacecraft for space exploration.

14 people have lost their lives in space shuttle accidents - seven each on Challenger and Columbia. (Two searchers were also killed in a helicopter accident during recovery of the Columbia.)

The RS-25, which is the official designation of the SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine), is composed mostly of a network of various pumps and valves that prepare the propellant for combustion. Like the engines of the rockets before it, the space shuttle's engines work by combining a fuel with an oxidiser (that is, an oxidising agent) and igniting the resulting mixture. This two-part propellant is necessary because fire needs oxygen to burn, and there is no oxygen in space; the oxygen is thus supplied by the oxidising agent.

For the SSME, liquid hydrogen is used as the fuel and liquid oxygen as the oxidiser. These enter the shuttle from the orange external fuel tank (ET) through separate fuel lines. Turbopumps increase the pressure of each propellant component, preparing it for the combustion chamber (higher pressure causes more thrust). The components (which are still kept separate at this point) go through a number of other pathways that are annoyingly technical to describe (for an in-depth description of the processes, check out the related link at the bottom of this answer); for example, some fuel and oxidiser go directly to the main combustion chamber (MCC) and are ignited, while some fuel goes instead to a pipe around the nozzle and acts as coolant to prevent it from overheating, while some oxidiser is converted to gas and used to pressurise the oxidiser tank.

Ultimately, though, the fuel and oxidiser are combined in the MCC and ignited. The resulting combustion and expulsion of the burning mixture through the SSME nozzle produces a lot of thrust--1859 kN of thrust at sea level, and 2279 kN in a vacuum (space).

liquid because ir never runs out <3