2006-09-09 20:29:12 · 5 answers · asked by space 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
To get rid of the solid rocket boosters???
2006-09-09 20:33:14 · answer #1 · answered by Scorpio 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
"At about T plus 12, you will see the whole shuttle stack begin to do that rotation. The reason being is when the pads were built in order to make it easy for the mobile launch platform and the crawler to get to the pad area. You come in from the south so the whole vehicle is oriented and the wings are going east-west and the external tank north-south. We could have done it another way, but that would of cost millions of dollars to reorient the track, the crawlerway, the MLP and the tower. So we saved some money by making that vehicle roll. Now part of that roll is to get the right orientation depending on what orbit it is going into. If it is going into a low inclination orbit, say 28.5 degrees, it will only do about a 90 degree roll. If it is going up to the International Space Station into a high inclination, 51.6, then it’s got to roll a little more than 90 degrees. The main reason we do that is for stability. The vehicle is more stable with the orbiter on the bottom. If you tie a weight on a broomstick, you will find it a lot easier to hold broomstick with the weight on the bottom than trying to balance with it on top. The other reason is it allows the astronauts to look out their window and they have a better view of the curvature of the earth in the event of some kind of crisis or problem they have some orientation, some visual cue, as to where they are. And that’s why we do it. Boy, I sure hope that was a good answer."
(me, too)
2006-09-09 20:38:51 · answer #2 · answered by Joe D 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To put it in the proper attitude to obtain the required orbit. It can only take off from the launch pad in one way - based on the fact the pads available are all fixed and cannot be rotated. SO once it gets high enough it has to roll to cause it's thrusters to be pointing the way they have to point in order to push the shuttle in the direction it needs to go so it will end up where it needs to be.
Learn more about orbital dynamics if you don't understand yet.
2006-09-09 20:53:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes. It will rotate by a angle of 360 degrees.
2006-09-10 01:09:08 · answer #4 · answered by Lady_Marmalade 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes.
2006-09-09 20:34:23 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋