when, why & where did nasa decide to launch space shuttels?

Answer 1

The shuttle was being designed all through the 70s. The first one was launched in the early 80s.

As to why. Well we were told that a re-usable spacecraft would save a lot of money. It didn't work out that way at all, and ever since the shuttle's been flying critics have said we could do the same stuff cheaper with unmanned rockets. And we do continue to use unmanned rockets, and the work just fine and are a lot cheaper. The Russians built a space shuttle too, which looked very much like ours, but they only flew it once.

All through the 70s we were seeing designs for the shuttle. Most of them were fairly small. One was called the Dina-soar (for 'dynamic soaring') and it was tested at Moffit Field, near where I live in northern California. The shuttle we ended up with was bigger than any of the designs. I think it was made that size for military purposes.

Answer 2

The idea and design of the Shuttle are about 40 years old. At the time it was thought about, the general consensus was rockets were rather wasteful. Take the most powerful machine ever built by humans: the Saturn V rocket. It got all sorts of equipment and 3 men to the Moon. All that came back was the capsule with the 3 men and limited cargo--usually rocks. Not many reusable parts with that method. Everything had to be built again from scratch. NASA wanted a vehicle that could be used both for launch and all of it for return, and then used again. The only thing built from scratch now is the external fuel tank. The orbiter and SRBs are re-furbished and re-used. The only problem being that the most complex machine ever built by humans is the Shuttle. And, the more complex something is, the greater the chance something can go wrong. So, even with the tragedies the program has suffered, it actually has a remarkably great success rate.

Answer 3

The answer to your question is rather simple really...

If you use a rocket to shoot upwards into space, good, now you are in space...traveling at say 20,000 Miles Per Hour.

how do you get back down without burning up? Remember, you used up all of your fuel blasting off and getting way up there into space orbit around the Earth. Taking more fuel to do something else once you get up in space means a heavier payload for the launch sequence, so you need a bigger rocket...one thing makes you do something else, etc.

So the idea is to parachute, or drop, or glide back to Earth somehow and in the process "Bleed" off some of that tremendous velocity you have. The Shuttle does just that. It glides back in to Earth on a planned trajectory that allows it to land right where it wants to assuming all of the conditions are just right.