why do space shuttle size and weight so much large?

Answer 1

space shuttle travel in space for many months with 5 to 7 men so they need to have food and their water etc they also have lox (liquid oxygen) as fuel hence there is a need for large space ,the computers are also there which are heavy and they need battery to run them hence weight
hope i helped

Answer 2

The space shuttle was supposed to be a 'truck', and to replace all other vehicles. It was to have a heavy-payload capability, crews up to 7 people, and land like an airplane... that's a LOT for one space craft.
The size was necessary for it's specified mission - building a space station. Compenents 60 feet long and 15 feet wide had to fit inside. For transferring crews, it need to be able to have places for up to 5 passengers. And, it had to be able to loft, then retrieve, heavy payloads from space - and land on a runway.
The thought was, with a fleet of similar spacecraft, the costs would go down, because experience with them would grow. If a part broke on one, it could be scavenged from another, reducing ground time. As it turns out, the shuttle DID work, but it was probably ahead of it's time. Everytime you had to launch one, you took up the manned capability and the heavy payload capability even if you didn't need one or the other. That made it expensive, and the expense of the program dented our plans at building a spacestation - which is what the shuttle was intended for in the first place.

Answer 3

Because a shuttle carries a lot of things including fuel, food, exlploration implements and also there are different places for different things inside a shuttle that needs a lot of space.

Answer 4

Space Shuttle is one of the most heaviest vehicles ever built in the world. To know why space shuttle weighs so much and is so huge we must understand the concepts of propulsion.
The principle of rocket propulsion depends on the following two laws: -

(i) Newton 's third law of motion

(ii) Law of conservation of momentum


The motion of a rocket is an interesting application of Newton 's third law of motion & momentum principle. The rocket expels a jet of hot gases from its tail. This is say, an action force. The jet of hot gases exerts a force on the rocket, propelling it forward; this is the reaction force.
Propulsion Principle

From the momentum point of view, the hot gases acquire momentum in the backward direction & the rocket acquires an equal amount of momentum in the forward direction.

Thus by means of expelling the hot gases the rocket moves forward in space.

Coming to Space Shuttle,it has to travel to about 200 km from earths surface to its orbit. The velocity at which it must travel is around 6 km/s. To travel at such high velocities we need a huge mass to be expelled. Thus the mass of propellant accounts for around 70% of the shuttle. The remaining mass is contributed by The tanks that hold the propellant (Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen),the structures that support the tanks, the thermal protection systems and many more.
Thats the reason why space shuttle is too heavy and also is too huge

Answer 5

The shuttle takes huge pieces of equipment and supplies into space and delivers to the International Space Station. It takes whole rooms the size of a city bus to add on to the ISS. It takes food and water for all the people for months and months of supplies. Plus it deploys satelites into orbit and much more.

Answer 6

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!

Answer 7

most of the space shuttle's weight at launch is fuel. at launch, the orbiter (where the crew lives, eats, sleeps in space) only weighs 300,000-500,000 pounds (exact weight varies, depending on what the shuttle is carrying) the rest is fuel. that's like 3.5 million pounds of fuel, tank and Solid Rocket Boosters

Answer 8

the difference between space shuttle and shuttle c*ock is , one has to shuttle across infinite space and take care od space inhabitants while shuttle c*ock has to shuttle across net.

Answer 9

defense force standards. it would desire to have been plenty smaller yet NASA could no longer get it approved with the help of congress without help from the defense force, and the fee for his or her help lobbying congress became to construct it to defense force specs. the defense force particular the size of the shipment bay to be sufficiently enormous to hold undercover agent satellites that have been enormous. and that they particular it mandatory to have the means to return to the launch website after one orbit, which in reality means it mandatory to have sufficiently enormous wings to drift exceedingly a techniques interior the ambience to scoot sideways a techniques sufficient to come again the the launch website which does no longer be best below it on the tip of the 1st orbit. with the point to hold the super shipment bay and massive wings demands a huge rocket!

Answer 10

because they have so much fuel to carry as well as cargo, they carry very large payloads and they must be built to handle such a feat,, They also need to be aerodynamicly built as well as be able to be stable,