Space Shuttle

​The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA, as part of the Space Shuttle program. In this article, we examine the monumental technology behind America's shuttle program, the mission it was designed to carry out.
First, let's look at the parts of the space shuttle and a typical mission.

The space shuttle consists of the following major components:

• two soli­d rocket boosters (SRB) - critical for the launch
• external fuel tank (ET) - carries fuel for the launch
• orbiter - carries astronauts and payload

The Shuttle was launched vertically, like a conventional rocket, with the two SRBs operating in parallel with the OV's three main engines, which were fueled from the ET. The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit, and the ET was jettisoned just before orbit insertion, which used the orbiter's two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines. At the conclusion of the mission, the orbiter fired its OMS to de-orbit and re-enter the atmosphere. The orbiter then glided as a spaceplane to a runway landing.

A typical shuttle mission is as follows:

• getting into orbit (launch)
• orbit - life in space
• re-entry
• landing

A typical shuttle mission lasts seven to eight days, but can extend to as much as 14 days depending upon the objectives of the mission. Let's look at the stages of a mission one by one.
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

Read More