Space Shuttle

There is no gravity therfore it will travel forever slowly speeding up and eventually travelling at 99.999% of the speed of light, if this object collides with another it will create a big bang

The Space Shuttle program had an estimated cost of about $196 billion over its lifetime, from development to retirement in 2011. Each Space Shuttle mission was estimated to cost about $450 million.

Most believe that the first 'Rockets' were launched by China. This was many years ago and much like fireworks of today.

James A. Lovell Jr. never landed a shuttle. He was an astronaut on Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 missions, which involved landing on the moon and a dramatic return to Earth in the case of Apollo 13, but he did not land a space shuttle.

A single-stage rocket has all its propulsion and structure contained in a single unit, while a multistage rocket consists of two or more stages stacked on top of each other. In a multistage rocket, each stage is jettisoned when its fuel is exhausted, shedding weight and making the spacecraft lighter, enabling it to achieve higher speeds. This design allows multistage rockets to carry heavier payloads and go farther into space than single-stage rockets.

When in space, it is weightless. But it still takes energy to move the mass around. Shuttle Gross liftoff weight: 240,000 lb (109,000 kg) Empty weight: 172,000 lb (78,000 kg) Maximum payload: 55,250 lb (25,060 kg) Maximum landing weight: 230,000 lb (104,000 kg)

The Challenger exploded because the external tank exploded.

The ET exploded when a couple of 'o' rings failed in the solid rocket booster (SRB.)

That failure caused hot gases to escape and actually burn a hole in the lower portion of the ET and the coupling holding the SRB in place. When the coupling gave way the SRB swung out and punctured the upper portion of the ET. When that happened, the fuel in the upper portion, met the fuel in the lower portion and there was an explosion that blew the Challenger into pieces.

Experiments with rocketry progressed through the early 20th century. The first rockets to reach space were the German V-2 rockets of World War II. The first artificial satellite (Sputnik) was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, followed by the US Explorer I in 1958.

The first manned flight was the Earth orbit by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on Apil 12, 1961. Manned flights by the US were by Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, followed by the three-orbit flight of John Glenn on February 20, 1962.

The US space program under NASA culminated in six manned Moon landings between July 20, 1969 and December 14, 1972. Space exploration since that time has been almost entirely by unmanned probes, such as the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions to the outer planets from 1977 to 1989, and the Viking mission (and subsequent rovers) sent to Mars in 1975.

Manned space flight continued with Mir, Skylab, and the International Space Station. The Russian Soyuz flights are continuing, both manned and unmanned, while the US fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters (1977-2011) has now been retired.

A space shuttle has multiple stations (e.g. mission control, cockpit, payload bay) to distribute responsibilities and tasks efficiently among the crew members. Each station is designed to manage specific functions, such as navigation, communications, and payload deployment, to ensure the success and safety of the mission. Having multiple stations allows for better coordination and division of labor during complex space missions.

A space shuttle is launched into space using powerful rockets. Once in space, it uses onboard thrusters to maneuver and adjust its course. The shuttle then re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and glides back to a landing site like a plane.

It saves on fuel. The reason we launch rockets from Florida as opposed to say, Long Island, New York, is that we are closer to the equator, the mid-point between the north and south poles. If you were to spin a basketball, you would see that the center rotates faster than the top or bottom of the ball. This means that when the rocket blasts off from the launch pad, it gets an extra boost from the rotation of the earth and that means less fuel needs to be used to lift off. Another reason is that the launch is done over water. If sonething were to happen to a rocket after lift-off, the rocket would come down over water and not land (remember the Space Shuttle).

A rocket ship in space is controlled by a combination of thrusters, reaction wheels, and control moment gyros. Thrusters are used for changes in velocity and trajectory, while reaction wheels and control moment gyros help orient the spacecraft and maintain stability. Guidance systems and computers on board help control and coordinate these systems for navigation in space.

The first successful spaceflight to reach space in 1950 was achieved by the V-2 rocket, launched by the United States. The V-2 rocket reached an altitude of about 100 kilometers, officially entering space as defined by the Kármán line.

The space shuttle is flying fast enough (at least 17,500 mph) which is the speed needed to stay in orbit. If it slowed below that in would fall back to earth instead of falling around it. This is basically the way it returns to earth. It turns itself around and fires it's OMS engines slowing it down enough for the earths gravity to pull it back. It then uses the atmosphere to slow it down to a safe landing speed.

At the 2 minutes after liftoff the solid rocket boosters (the two large white rockets on either side of the orange external tank) drop off and fall into the Atlantic. At the 8 minute mark the orange external tank falls off and burns up in the atmosphere.

At that point the shuttle is in space.

The Canadarm is important because it is a robotic manipulator system used in space missions to deploy, capture, and maintain payloads like satellites. It has been a critical tool for assembling the International Space Station and repairing spacecraft in orbit. The Canadarm showcases Canadian expertise in robotics and has played a significant role in advancing space exploration capabilities.

Yes, the first animal in space, a dog named Laika, did not return safely. Laika was launched into space by the Soviet Union in 1957 and unfortunately perished due to overheating and stress during the mission.

Apollo 9 cost an estimated $340 million in 1969 or approximately $2.2 billion in 2014.

Mae Jemison grew up in Chicago, Illinois.

The space shuttle that exploded in 1986 was the Challenger. It disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff, resulting in the tragic deaths of all seven crew members on board. The disaster was caused by the failure of an O-ring seal in one of the solid rocket boosters due to cold weather conditions.

The space agency test ranges and launch site are located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is a facility that NASA and private companies use for launching rockets and spacecraft.

The fourth person to go into space was Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut who orbited Earth on April 12, 1961, aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.

Space shuttles took of vertically, attached to an external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
A space shuttle takes off by burning fuel at very high temperatures and this provides lift. The rocket needs to carry extra tanks of fuel for it to provide the combustion for a reasonable amount of time until the shuttle gets into orbit.

The atmosphere affects a rocket by providing resistance as the rocket travels through it, which causes drag. Thicker atmospheres can increase drag and make it more difficult for a rocket to accelerate. Additionally, the atmosphere's composition can affect the combustion process in the rocket engines.

Enterprise (never flown into space but used as a test vehicle for glide tests.)

Columbia

Challenger

Discovery

Endeavor

Atlantis