there is no up or down, north or south, west or east in space. so how do astronauts navigate say to the moon?

Question

there not gonna say, well we go straight ahead, do a left, then take your next right turn obviously. so howd they do it? plus what if the y wanted to travel to mars. how would they get there. navigate there?. plus when astronauts go to the moon do they have to travel above the earth. is the moon higher situated than the earth? so would they have to keep goin up, leave the earth and go higher? or is the moon below us or on the same level? so if they left earth the shuttle would be seen flying below the earth towards the moon? sensible professional answers please

Answer 1

Ballistics, ie they know where to point the spaceship when they fire the rockets for a few minutes to reach escape velocity(25,000 mph) and leave Earth orbit. then after the rocket is cut off, the ship coasts the rest of the way. The precise trajectory or path of the ship is predetermined by calculations based on Newton's laws of gravity and motion. This is done by computer and only small corrections are needed to be applied from time to time again dictated both by the onboard navigation computer and that at mission control.
The space ship's computer does take observations of fixed stars to check whether the ship is on course, and these readings also are added to the preprogrammed data. There are also onboard inertial navigation instruments like on aircraft based on gyros which sense where the ship actually is relative to its starting point.
Hope that helps.
Ballistics is so refined now that they say they can fire a rocket to reach Moon orbit with very few course corrections being needed during the actual journey, when the ship merely coasts.

Answer 2

The spaceship's course will be plotted to take it to where the moon will be in approximately 3 days (the time it takes to get there). If it was aimed directly towards where the moon is at take off the moon will have moved a considerable distance. The moon and earth (and the other planets) are roughly on the same plane with the sun at the centre - imagine a big plate with a big yellow blob (the sun) in the middle and smaller blobs (the planets circling at various distances from the centre. The angle at which you view the moon depends on where you are on the earth's surface. If you were stood on the equator you would see the moon rise and then get higher and higher until it was directly overhead and then it would set on the opposite horizon to where it rose. The moon is neither above or below the earth - think more of it as being alongside it like two footballs sitting a few yards from each other.

Answer 3

North, South east and West are just arbitrary points of reference. To navigate in space, they just need points of reference, they generally use fixed objects like stars. The trip to Mars is different only in scale navigation by the stars could still be used. They can see where the Moon is, and can use it as a point of reference, plus there are known geographic points on the Moon that they can use.
The Moon lies in about the same plane as the spin of the Earth. That's why the Moon seems to follow the same path as the Sun, and why we have solar and lunar eclipses occasionally.

Answer 4

Generally, the estimate the position of a heavenly body precisely when the spacecraft would land on it. They launch it according to it and generally don't need to alter the direction of the spacecraft.
But sometimes, when the need arises, they can change the direction. There ARE steering-wheel type instruments. How else do you think that the astronauts correct their direction if they go off-course?
The spacecraft to be sent to Mars could be filled with a radar type of instrument the same way as they did for the Mars-Pathfinder(still on Mars). The Moon is situated almost parallel to the Earth's equator.
Hey, we all can see the Moon with our naked eyes. Telescopes and satellites further help in defining the exact course for the spacecraft.
Sorry, I'm no NASA employee and so the answers are not exactly professional.

Answer 5

First point, there are no clouds in space (well, not like on Earth), so you can almost always see where you are going.
Up means away from something that is pulling me (gravity), so it will seem up when you go away from the Earth and down when you approach the moon (or where-ever).
Just as sailors use the pole star to navigate, so astronauts can use stars to work out where they are (and which way up etc).

Answer 6

The earliest space flights used special sextants that measured the angle between the edges of Earth or celestial bodies to determine position. These sextants have since been replaced by electronic devices. Even geosynchronous satellites have begun using GPS signals for orbit determination.

The main difference in space navigation compared to Earth navigation is the absence of 'up' and 'down.' The most useful points of reference are still the stars. The most important point of reference - for astronauts who wish to return home - is the Earth.

The stars are so far away that any motion that they might have is not visible in normal human environments. The stars therefore are in known positions at ll times. What changes is the location of the Earth and other planets and objects that are in orbits around the sun. Since they are always moving, they are not so useful as reference points for navigation in space.

Using 3 axis control systems and referring each axis to reference stars, the location of a space craft can be calculated. Changes in its location indicate its speed and direction.

The main reasons that a space craft change its speed and direction are gravity and rocket thrust. Once in motion, only gravity or rocket thrust will change its speed and direction. There are no straight lines flown by objects in space. Everything travels along a curve that is determined by its speed, the local gravity field, and its thrust to mass ratio in conjunction with its rocket thrust.

To travel in space then, is a very complicated mathematical process which must account for everything that might affect the course or speeds of where you are and where you want to go. You never aim at the place you want to go. You always aim at the place in time and space where you and your objective can be at the same time in the future.

;-D i hope somebody invents the 'Star Drive' soon so we can just go where we want to go.

Answer 7

when u travel in space, "let the stars be your guide"
the constellations are like a road map for space travelers
sailors use them to navigate the seas, so I'm sure that astronauts use the same method

Answer 8

up and down and easr and west are relative terms...its when u compare a point with another....theres no meaning to these words without a frame of referance...theres no frame of referance outside the universe...so the terms become absurd in the universe when the referance is not a point wwithin the universe

Answer 9

The moon is neither above us or below us. It's in outer space. To get there, just direct your space ship in the direction you see it.

Answer 10

I guess they just look out the window and head toward the big white ball that is circling the planet...