Facts about space shuttles and how they launch into space?

Answer 1

The space shuttles, properly known as the Space Transportation System (STS), are resuable (mostly) spacecraft designed to carry cargo to and from low Earth orbit (LEO).

The system has three main components: the solid rocket boosters (SRBs), the external tank (ET), and the orbiter vehicle (OV) . It is the orbiter that is commonly referred to as the space shuttle.

The SRBs are the largest solid rocket motors ever built. They produce about 2,000,000 pounds of thrust each for about two minutes. Like any other solid rocket motor, the SRBs cannot be shutdown. They produce thrust until they run out of fuel. The SRBs fall into the ocean on parachutes and are retrieved by boats, towed to shore, and rebuilt for use in the next mission.

The ET carries the liquid oxygen LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH) for the main engines that are carried by the orbiter. The SRBs and the orbiter are bolted to the ET for launch. The ET is not reusable. It is jettisoned on the way up. Most of burns up. Some of it falls in the ocean.

The OV is about the size of a Boeing 727 airliner. It is completely reusable. It can carry seven astronauts and up to 50,000 pounds of cargo to LEO. It has three engines known as the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs). Each SSME produces about 1,500,000 pounds of thrust all the way to orbit. The SSMEs burn the LOX and LH in the external tank as propellant (fuel).

How does it all work?

At T minus 0, all three SSMEs ignite. If they all work well, the launch is on. You'll hear the call "three at a hundred" from the crew if all is well. This means that all three SSMEs are running at 100 percent. (The SSME's actually operate at 104 percent of rated power because the engines exceeded the specifications.)

At that point, two things happen: The SRBs are ignited and the the frangible (explosive) bolts that hold the entire shuttle to the launch pad are exploded. The shuttle lifts off fast.

As it clears the tower, you'll see the shuttle roll upside down and pitch over to start its climb to orbit.

At about two minutes, the SRBs start to run out of fuel and the thrust they produce starts to tail off. At this point, more frangible bolts fire and the SRBs are separated from the ET. This is known as SRB SEP. The SRBs fall for a while and then the parachutes open to drop them in the ocean for recovery and reuse.

Now, the shuttle is running on the SSMEs only. It accelerates at about 3Gs until it reaches the velocity needed for the orbit that the mission requires. That's 0 to 17,500 mph in 8.5 minutes.

At this point, another set of frangible bolts fires and the ET separates and slowly reenters the atmosphere.

The orbiter is now coasting to orbit.

All the orbital manuvers and corrections are performs using the Orbital Manuvering System (OMS) located in the big pods on either side of the tail. These are hypergolic engines. They are fired once the shuttle reaches (approximately) the correct altitude to circularize the orbit.

At this point, the crew will open the cargo bay doors so that the radiators on the inside can dispose of all the accumulated heat.

On-orbit operations begin.

This is it in a nutshell.

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Answer 2

the area return and forth's important engines burn Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen, which whilst blended mutually and ignited, produce some million.2 million kilos of thrust. The return and forth additionally makes use of hypergolic propellants, which whilst blended mutually, spontaneously ignite and grant the thrust mandatory to pass around in orbit

Answer 3

Hi. Try the NASA site : http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Answer 4

Wikipedia is your friend:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle

Answer 5

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