The Space Shuttle needs to travel at 25,000 km/h to leave earth. How can astronauts withstand this accl'n?

Question

How long does it take to reach this speed and wouldn't the astronauts be completely immobilised with the accelaration?

Answer 1

This is a velocity, not an acceleration (check your units...km/h). The actual acceleration rate is within the tolerances of the human body and is spread out over something like 20 minutes. So there isn't that much strain.

Answer 2

It takes a little under 10 minutes to get up to that speed. The astronauts are in good physical condition and trained in centrifuges to withstand the acceleration, which is not so bad really. It is less than 3 gees. I have experienced 3 gees in an aerobatic airplane and it is no problem for the average person in good health. I was not immobilized at all and I am not even that fit, being a bit of a couch potato. You can get an idea of what it is really like by riding Mission Space at Disney World. I heard a shuttle astronaut rode it and said it felt exactly like a real launch, only not as long. It goes up to two and a half gees.

Answer 3

The space shuttles attain a speed of 25000 km/h in about 2 to 2.5 minutes as the recent shuttle Discovery reached the orbit in about this much time. And as for the acceleration, it increases gradually from zero to top and the astronauts are provided with special gravity suits to counter it. Also, the gravity inside the shuttle is almost zero. These things keep the astronauts normal.

Answer 4

The acceleration necessary for such velocities is spread over time. It's not like they're going from 0 to 25,000 km/hour in 10 seconds. Back in the late 60's and early 70's, when the Apollo lunar landings were still going on, the required speed for trans-lunar-injection was obtained at the end of an acceleration period of some 15 minutes or so.

Answer 5

The speed is built up over time. the maximum G forces the the astronauts experience is in the vicinity of 7 G. The speed is relative to the speed one moment before. If you are sitting down, you are actually travelling aound the axis of the earth at 1600 kph. Do you feel it?

Answer 6

well they only have 2 to 4 Gs put onto their body, its pretty bad, but not bad enough it will crush you, plus they have the space shuttle and their suits protecting them.
It takes them from 4 to 8 seconds to reach this speed. WOW imagine if they had a car that can go that fast!!! WOOT forget the police, you would rip their cars to pieces just by passing by them!!! and you would reach the other side of the united states in about 5 minutes. or so, counting that you keep accelerating like a space shuttle coming down to earth.
sorry, thats off topic

Answer 7

the question is wrong 25000 km/h= 15625 mile per hour
25000 mile per hr= 40000 km per hr
the max speed reached is 17000 miles per hour to get to orbit.

I do not know the lenght of time too orbit.

Note that is not the same as the time to meet the space station.
4-28-2005 8:12:00 PM
Orbiter Fan
Forum member

1: It takes roughly 91 minutes for the ISS to complete one full revolution of Earth.
2: They usually dock about an day after the launch for KSC.
3: Satellites in geostationary and geosynchronous orbits have an orbital altitude of about 35 800 km above the surface of Earth.
4-28-2005 8:37:00 PM


It takes the ISS 1.526944444 hours to orbit around Earth.
That is, as previously mentioned 91.63 minutes.
Or if you wish, 1 Hour, 31 Minutes and 37 Seconds.
Or, 5497 seconds.
So that is, 15.7153 Orbits per day. (24h day)
Or, 65.4807% of 1 orbit per hour.
And if you wish ~7.69 km/s
Or, 27,685.7 km/h

Answer 8

The astronauts ARE immobilized with the acceleration.

I don;t know the exact amount of time to reach the appropriate speed
but if you watch a launch it happens in about 20 minutes.....

Answer 9

It took over 7 minutes the last time. They are trained to withstand such force.

Answer 10

It takes about eight minutes, and the maximum acceleration is equivalent to three times the force of gravity.