Space Shuttle

Construction of the Space Shuttle Enterprise began on June 4, 1974. The completed vehicle was unveiled to the public on September 17, 1976.

The space shuttle had two kinds of rockets for maneuvering. The Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) is used for changing the shuttle's orbit. When the main engines shut down, the shuttle is not completely in its orbit, so the OMS is used for final orbital insertion. The OMS is also used to de-orbit for landing. The OMS design is based on the rocket engine used by Apollo to orbit the moon and de-orbit the moon for return to earth. There are two OMS per shuttle, on the back just above the main engines. The OMS are on swivels (gimbals), which allows pointing them in slightly different directions to rotate the shuttle when they are active.

When the other engines are not active, the space shuttle turns itself to point in different directions, and makes small motions such as to dock with the space station when it is already orbiting near it, using the small Reaction Control System (RCS) engines. There are 38 primary RCS engines, 14 in the front and 24 in the back, pointing in all different directions so the shuttle can move in all different directions when it is docking with something or wants to change directions. There are 6 smaller vernier RCS engines, 2 in the front and 4 in the back, that are used for fine adjustments. If the OMS engines fail, the shuttle can still de-orbit and land using the primary RCS engines in an emergency mode.

The teacher who was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 was Christa McAuliffe. She was selected to be the first teacher in space as part of NASA's Teacher in Space Project.

NASA itself. The Shuttle has posed a large problem in recent years with its total cost of up keep. The shuttles are older and its beginning to cost more and more to keep them not only safe but maintain their maintenance. The new rockets and transportation devices they have and are working on will be more similar to the old way of doing things so to speak. Strap what they need to the end of a big rocket and shoot it up there like the original Apollo missions that way re-entry will become safer for humans as well. And as for putting hardware into space they will do everything on the ground before hand and shoot it there and recover the peices as they fall. Another thing to is the satellites we have now are also getting older and more and more have been replaced. Guess the key ingredient here is personal safety and the Shuttles are old and getting more and more unstable for their missions. Not to mention their budgets are getting cut yearly. So now we will see (if it isnt classified) rockets shooting the payload whatever it may be hooked up in the nose, if its manned it will simply fall back to Earth the old fashioned way and a whole frigate of naval ships will patrol for its recovery.

The space shuttle typically took about 2 days to return from the space station to Earth. This allowed for a gradual re-entry process and ensured a safe return for the astronauts.

Animals were used in the first test flights of vehicles in space to determine the potential effects of space travel on living organisms. By studying how animals reacted to the conditions of space, scientists could gather valuable data on the impacts of microgravity, radiation, and other factors, helping to ensure the safety of human astronauts in future missions.

Clouds of steam are produced during a space launch because the immense heat generated by the rocket engines causes moisture in the air around the rocket to quickly evaporate and form visible water vapor. This rapid expansion of the heated air creates the cloud-like formations seen during launch.

A spacecraft needs a rocket engine to provide thrust for propulsion in the vacuum of space. Unlike in the atmosphere, where planes can use lift for flight, rockets rely on their engines to push against the inertia of their mass and propel themselves forward in space.

Yes, the bottoms and nose areas of all of the shuttle-craft ARE covered with tiles, which sometimes come off while the shuttle is in flight!

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Edwards AFB in California was, from the start of the shuttle program, the "backup" landing sight in case of weather conditions at Cape Canaveral, or other considerations. It was used several times for that purpose.

A space shuttle orbits the Earth at an average speed of about 17,500 miles per hour. This high speed is necessary to counteract the gravitational pull of the Earth and remain in orbit.

After being used for atmospheric test flights and display at various locations, space shuttle Enterprise is now on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. It serves as a testament to the early development of the Space Shuttle program and its advancements in space exploration technology.

Scientists are still exploring exactly what can be done in outer space and how we can do it, so mostly the space shuttles and space stations have been used for research about weightlessness, vacuum, and other aspects of being in outer space. Space certainly has some very solid practical applications already, such as communications satellites and global positioning satellites, and one of the functions of space shuttles has been to put satellites in their orbits (although there are also other ways of putting satellites into orbit) and in some cases, to repair satellites that are already in orbit.

Doug Hurley pilots STS-135, scheduled to launch at 11:26 a.m. EDT - July 8, 2011 .

The name of the NASA Space Shuttle that successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center on its final mission was Atlantis. Atlantis completed its final mission (STS-135) on July 8, 2011.

Christa Mcauliffe, who did not survive the trip- killed when the Challenger exploded on the way up. She was the first American woman to lose her life in a spacecraft accident- which strictly speaking, did not happen in space- but inside the atmosphere. There were two females also on the Columbia crew- another All-Hands fatal incident, which broke up on re-entry. Mrs. Mcauliffe was a social studies teacher- apart from NASA- not a Biologist which might have been a better choice.

No, absent unexpected malfunctions, the inhabitants of a space craft experience the same comforts that those on this planet do: Although gravity must be controlled and is not as easily used for all actions, it is effective; the provision of heat or cold is easily controlled.

Lettering on the space shuttle including the orbiter's name (Discovery, Atlantis, etc.) and the word "United States" uses the Helvetica font.

Orbiters have featured 2 different NASA logos over the years including the current "meatball' logo with a blue background with stars with NASA in red as well as the stylized "worm" logo. Both logos include custom designed lettering and are not part of an full font. Some designers have created complete fonts inspired by these designs however.

The first permanent space station in space is the International Space Station (ISS), which has been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000. It serves as a research laboratory for scientific research in microgravity.

Astronauts aboard the space shuttle, like other space craft including the ISS, have to be most careful about loose items in micro-gravity. Food in particular is carefully planned to prevent crumbs and other small bits from getting loose and ending up in sensitive equipment or in an astronauts eye.

The Space Shuttle program lasted 30 years, one of the longest space programs in history. The completion of construction of the International Space Station led The United States Congress to direct NASA to focus it's efforts beyond Low Earth Orbit. Initially this took the form of the Constellation program which was later canceled with only the Orion, later named Multi-Purpose Crew Module retained from that program.

The first successful rocket is known as the V-2 rocket, developed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile and laid the foundation for future rocket technology.

The first rover in space was Lunokhod 1, a Soviet robotic rover that was launched to the Moon in 1970. It was part of the Soviet Union's Luna program and successfully operated on the Moon's surface for about 10 months, covering a distance of over 10 kilometers.

Easy the shuttle that is currently in orbit is going about 25,405 feet per second (17,322 statute miles per hour). In order to get back to Earth the shuttle will fire a

In order to return to earth, the shuttle fires its Orbital Manuevering Engines (OMS) in the direction opposite to its orbit, also known as a "de-orbit burn" . It only slows down by about 200 m.p.h. in order to begin "falling" back to earth.

As of now, the farthest spacecraft from Earth is Voyager 1. It has reached interstellar space, located about 14 billion miles away from Earth. Voyager 1 was launched by NASA in 1977 and continues to send back data to Earth.