Why can't they build space shuttles as big as aeroplanes.?

Question

oh yeah what is the type of material that keeps falling off of the space shuttle and why do they use that material.

Answer 1

The space shuttle, I assure you, is quite large and is the size of an average airplane. It is not as large as a jumbo jet, but it is also not small. The type of material that keeps falling falling off the space shuttle is called polyisocyanurate foam. It is just an insulator to help keep the oxygen and hydrogen liquids at the supercool temperatures they need to be at. :)

Answer 2

The space shuttle IS as big as an airplane, but instead of carrying a little fuel and a lot of people it carries a lot of fuel and very few people.

The material that keeps falling off is insulating foam. It is used to keep the big external tank from growing a thick layer of frost when they fill it with liquid oxygen and hydrogen which has a temperature of hundreds of degrees below zero.

Answer 3

Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's current manned launch vehicle. The winged shuttle orbiter is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronauts (although eight have been carried) and up to 22,700 kg (50,000 lb) of payload into low earth orbit. When its mission is complete, it re-enters the earth's atmosphere and makes an unpowered horizontal landing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle

Answer 4

I don't think that anything has ever fallen off the shuttle.

Answer 5

because it is very expensive: the material they use to build. and it will become so heavy that cannot go to space

Answer 6

They can.
Bert Rutan showed that conclusively.
But NASA is a lot like oedipus. What worked for daddy is good enough for them...

Answer 7

first of all there is no such thing as an aeroplane it is airplane

Answer 8

I think they are alot bigger than planes.