Space Shuttles

1
Space Shuttles

• By Frederick

2
Launching Space Shuttles

• To lift the 4.5 million pound (2.05 million kg)
  shuttle from the pad to orbit (115 to 400
  miles/185 to 643 km) above the Earth, the shuttle
  uses the following components
• two solid rocket boosters (SRB)
• three main engines of the orbiter
• the external fuel tank (ET)
• orbital maneuvering system (OMS) on the orbiter

3
Space Shuttle Liftoff

• The two orbital maneuvering systems' (OMS)
  engines are located in pods on the aft section of
  the orbiter, one on either side of the tail.
  These engines place the shuttle into final orbit,
  change the shuttle's position from one orbit to
  another, and slow the shuttle down for re-entry.

4
Space Shuttle Liftoff
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                             
5
Space Shuttle in Orbit

• Once in space, the shuttle orbiter is your home
  for seven to 14 days. The orbiter can be oriented
  so that the cargo bay doors face toward the Earth
  or away from the Earth depending upon the mission
  objectives in fact, the orientation can be
  changed throughout the mission. One of the first
  things that the commander will do is to open the
  cargo bay doors to cool the orbiter

6
Starboard Side Port Side
                                                                                                                      
7
Life in a Space Shuttle

• The orbiter must provide you with an environment
  similar to Earth. You must have air, food, water,
  and a comfortable temperature. The orbiter must
  also take away the wastes that your body produces
  (carbon dioxide, urine, feces) and protect you
  from fire.

8
Life In a Space Shuttle

• On board the space shuttle, you need to have the
  following
• atmosphere similar to Earth
• carbon dioxide removed
• contaminating or trace gases removed
• normal humid environment

9
Work Aboard The Shuttle

• The shuttle was designed to deploy and retrieve
  satellites as well as deliver payloads to Earth
  orbit. To do this, the shuttle uses the Remote
  Manipulator System (RMS). The RMS was built by
  Canada and is a long arm with an elbow and wrist
  joint. You can control the RMS from the aft
  flight deck. The RMS can grab payloads
  (satellites) from the cargo bay and deploy them,
  or grab on to payloads and place them into the
  bay.

10
Shuttles Return To Earth

• For a successful return and landing, dozens of
  things have to go just right.
• Close the cargo bay doors. In most cases, they
  have been flying nose-first and upside down, so
  they then fire the RCS thrusters to turn the
  orbiter tail first.
• Once the orbiter is tail first, the crew fires
  the OMS engines to slow the orbiter down and fall
  back to Earth it will take about 25 minutes
  before the shuttle reaches the upper atmosphere.
• During that time, the crew fires the RCS
  thrusters to pitch the orbiter over so that the
  bottom of the orbiter faces the atmosphere (about
  40 degrees) and they are moving nose first again.
  
• Finally, they burn leftover fuel from the forward
  RCS as a safety precaution because this area
  encounters the highest heat of re-entry.

11
Most Memorable Missions

• Apollo
• Challenger

12
SHOCKWAVE
13
Space Shuttles Improvement

• As mentioned previously, falling debris (foam
  insulation) from the ET damaged the shuttle
  orbiter, leading to Columbia's break up upon
  re-entry. To bring the shuttles back to flight
  status, NASA has focused on three major areas

14
Space Shuttles Improvement

• Redesign the ET to prevent insulation from
  damaging the shuttle orbiter
• Improve inspection of the shuttle to detect
  damage
• Find ways to repair possible damage to the
  orbiter while in orbit
• Formulate contingency plans for the crew of a
  damaged shuttle to stay at the ISS until rescue

15
Sites

• http//science.howstuffworks.com/space-shuttle8.ht
  m