CAN A SPACE shuttle make a trip to the moons orbit and back.it certainly cant land on the moon?

Answer 1

well...once in earth orbit...you can be halfway to anywhere in space. this is because you have left the hardest part of your trip behind, which is the accent from the gravity well of earth, and have achieved an orbit.

Provided, that while the shuttle is in orbit, you supplied it once again with a fuel tank and fuel, it could be configured to go to the moon. as one person mentioned in another answer, you place an extended support payload in the shuttles bay to provide for the extended environmental and logistical needs of the flight, like food, water and oxygen. of course, you cant land the shuttle, but the question just deals with getting to the moon.

for the person that used the Saturn five as an example of why we cant get back to the moon, think again. you had that huge rocket that in stages, lifted the massive payload of the Apollo capsule, the service module, and the lunar lander, to its parking orbit where with just the services module's one engine was able to break away from earth and go to the moon, slow down for an orbit, and relight to get back. The shuttle has three main engines: all it needs is additional fuel to get it to break the orbit and go anywhere.

that's how i see it. it may be designed to land as an airplane after a mission, but it is technically a space ship or craft. properly supplied, it could make a moon voyage easily.

Answer 2

The shuttle's navigation computers and life support systems could support a mission to the moon easily. With the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) pad in the cargo bay, there would be enough supplies for a 16-day mission.

However, as you point out, the ET (external tank) is discarded on the way to orbit. If you could somehow dock with a fuel tank, the shuttle could easily travel to the moon and back. 4.5 million pounds of thrust is plenty for TLI and to reenter Earth orbit on the way back.

(The shuttle would have to reenter Earth orbit before landing. The thermal protection systems are designed for a reentry from LEO at 17,500 mph -- not a direct return from the moon at 25,000 mph.)

Another problem you'd have is landing on the moon. The shuttle is not equipped for that sort of landing. So, you'd have to carry a small lander in the cargo bay.

It's a fun idea, but it isn't really practical. It would be a lot easier to launch a proper moon mission using 3 or 4 shuttle missions to carry the pieces of the spacecraft to orbit and then dock them together.

By the way, if you would like to read about a shuttle mission to the moon, read Homer Hickham's book "Back to the Moon". He is a former shuttle mission planner and trainer. He wrote "Back to the Moon" about just such a mission. It's a fun read. Don't take it seriously. Hickham also wrote "Rocket Boys" an autobiographical story about his life and how he became a NASA engineer. It was turned into the movie "October Sky". (Note that "October Sky" is an anagram of "Rocket Boys".)

Answer 3

The Apollo Saturn V was the only rocket that was ever capable of taking men or women to the moon.

It is not just a case of power, it is how much extra fuel is required to "burn" away from Earth's orbit.

This is what all the ignorameouses don't understand when they keep wailing that since we haven't been back to the moon that proves we never went. The Saturn V was scrapped when Apollo was scrapped. You don't need it to put probes out into outer space or to put men and women into orbit.

And in going to the moon, you need another billion dollar piece of equipment - the Lunar Lander. That was scrapped also.

You can see the ignorance of people. The shuttle becomes and aircraft when it lands, so it would do a nice belly flop in the moon's airless environment.

You see, these people who know nothing are the ones who are so suceptible to falling under the spell of the hoax conspiracy lovers.

Ignorance is the most dangerous thing in the world - believe me.

Answer 4

The space shuttle was designed for LEO, low earth orbit,and it works fine.
But making a trip to moon's orbit and back, may be. Only after modification of the space shuttle.
There is no air on the moon. So there will not be any lift on the wings.
It can not land on the moon, even if there is a runway.
The NASA's space craft,newly designed, can land on the moon.

Answer 5

No, shuttles are designed in basic terms to flow to and from low Earth orbit. they're bodily incapable of going to the Moon and not utilising so lots extra gas, and notwithstanding in the event that they'd get there they at the instant are not equipped to land. The return and forth is designed to land like a glider, utilising the Earth's environment and its wings for administration. without environment on the Moon the return and forth might have no way of slowing right down to make a touchdown.

Answer 6

Otis F is the only one who came close to the whole answer: Not only does it fall far short of the propulsion capability needed to reach the moon, let alone brake into lunar orbit and then leave lunar orbit to return, but even if it could do all these things, it would burn up on re-entry. The reason is that the thermal protection system is designed for entry from earth orbit at about 17,500 mph, not almost 25,000 mph returning from the moon. This difference is very significant, remember that kinetic energy is proportional to the SQUARE of the velocity, meaning that lunar return requires dissipating about TWICE the energy as returning from earth orbit.

Answer 7

As currently designed, the space shuttle doesn't have the fuel capacity to make it to the moon. And you're right -- it could not SAFELY land on the moon, in spite of what some others around here said. The moon's surface is far too rough, uneven, and boulder strewn for any spacecraft to make an airplane kind of landing.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

The NASA space shuttle is not designed to go beyond earth's orbit so no, it can't go to the moon.

Answer 10

Gotta have one contrary answer. I think the shuttle does have just enough capability to make it to the moon and back but it would take weeks because it would have to coast the whole way, swing around the moon at just the right altitude (to avoid capture) and return.