2007-12-13 00:00:37 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Any space craft has to carry fuel to get into orbit against earths pull. For eg if you want to put a 3ton satellite into earth orbit, the rocket will weigh about 300 to 350 tons.
Shuttle can take up to 30 tons to orbit. So proportionally,it should be big and carry enough fuel
2007-12-13 10:12:45 · answer #1 · answered by Chandramohan P.R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Military requirements. It could have been MUCH smaller but NASA couldn't get it approved by congress without help from the military, and the price for their help lobbying congress was to build it to military specifications.
The Military specified the size of the cargo bay to be large enough to carry spy satellites that were big. And they specified it needed to have the ability to return to the launch site after one orbit, which basically means it needed to have big enough wings to glide pretty far in the atmosphere to scoot sideways far enough to get back the the launch site which would not be right under it at the end of the first orbit. So to carry the big cargo bay and big wings requires a big rocket!
2007-12-13 01:02:37 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋