How fast is the shuttle traveling when lifting off?

Question

What determines the shuttles throttling up or back and why is it so important for weight being a factor for this liftoff?

I meant , What speed does the Shuttle attain at full escape velocity. Sorry. I got the point across though I think.

Answer 1

Vo at time zero = 0

Vf at orbital insertion is 17,500mph and the orbit is approximately 100miles circular (more like 100.a x 100.b ellipitical where a does not equal b)

The shuttle DOES NOT reach escape velocity!!! Orbital velocity is much less than escape velocity and they are two different entities!

Escape velocity means you move fast enough to never come back to earth and that value is 25,000mph and represents the kinetic energy = to the work done to move to infinity (aka never come back).

Answer 2

It starts at 0 when lifting off, and accelerates up to orbital velocity of 17,500 MPH in about 10 minutes. They throttle down a minute or so into the flight to reduce dynamic pressure. Dynamic pressure is basically air friction. About one minute into the flight the shuttle is still in the atmosphere and the speed is getting too fast, causing dynamic pressure (air friction) to build up to dangerous levels, almost like reentry, so they back off on the engines a little until the shuttle gets above the atmosphere, then go to full thrust again.

Answer 3

You muse achieve 25000mph to reach the escape velocity. Otherwise, the gravitational for pulls you back in. The reason why weight is so important is that, the heavier the mass, the more force is required to move it. Lets look at Newtons second law where F (force) = m (mass) X a (acceleration). If you keep acceleration constant ( you don't want to accelerate to fast or you will kill the astronaut, nor too slow because you must exert the force over a longer period of time), the more mass you have, the more force you need, thus the more fuel you need to put it up there.

Answer 4

zero when lifting off, not a ver ywell worded question, max acceleration is 3Gs later on in the ascent

engines are throttled back when it is breraking the sound barrier to reduce stress due to the shockwave

didn't know weight was a critical factor for this particular flight

Answer 5

The shuttle is going over MACH 15 ( 11,000 mph) in it's launch. Each booster adds a certain amount of force tthat it can push that is why they are classified in weights.

Answer 6

11.2 kilometer per second