Space shuttle how does it work

In , the Columbia broke up during re-entry over Texas. Since the Columbia accident, the shuttles have been grounded pending redesigns to improve their safety. The shuttle Discovery was supposed to initiate the return to flight, but a large piece of insulating foam broke free from its external fuel tank, leaving scientists to solve the mystery and the program grounded once more until July , when the Discovery and Atlantis both carried out successful missions.

In this article, we examine the monumental technology behind America's shuttle program, the mission it was designed to carry out, and the extraordinary efforts that NASA has made to return the shuttle to flight. 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. The Hubble Space Telescope uses a system of cameras and mirrors to detect distant star light.

Learn how the Hubble sees in this video from the Discovery Channel. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. It provided support for the rocket boosters and orbiter. After the solid rocket boosters separated, the orbiter carried the external tank to about 70 miles km above the Earth.

With its fuel spent, the tank separated and fell along a planned trajectory. Most of it burned up in the atmosphere, and the rest fell into the ocean. The orbiter is the component most people think of as "the shuttle. The orbiter was about the same size as a DC-9 aircraft. It was feet 37 meters long and had a wingspan of 78 feet 23 m.

The crew compartment, located in the forward fuselage, normally carried crews of seven astronauts, but occasionally carried fewer people. The largest crew size for a shuttle mission was eight astronauts.

The mid-fuselage housed a foot meter payload bay and robotic arm. The bay could hold satellites, modules containing whole laboratories, and construction materials for the International Space Station. The aft fuselage held the orbital maneuvering system, main engines and vertical tail. Smaller thrusters located at the shuttle's nose and aft fuselage were used for small flight adjustments.

The space shuttle grew out of several efforts to develop reusable spacecraft. The X program in the s tested the idea of flying a space plane. The U. Air Force also conducted studies on semi-reusable spacecraft in the s. The original vision of the space shuttle program was to develop a vehicle that would launch into space very frequently several times a month to deploy and repair satellites as required. The military was also an active participant in the development, and the shuttle's payload bay which carried equipment into satellites into space was enlarged in the design phase to accommodate larger military satellites.

Specifically, the National Reconnaissance Office asked that the payload bay be enlarged and that the shuttle eventually run polar missions, which are suitable for satellites to see the entire Earth's surface below. The Air Force constructed a launch pad in Vandenberg, Calif. Although several shuttle military missions ran in the s, the practice dwindled down and ceased after Challenger's explosion.

In the early days of the space shuttle program, mission tasks included bringing up civilians to manage experiments, and deploying satellites — both civilian and military. Astronauts tested daring equipment such as the Manned Maneuvering Unit, a sort of jet backpack that would allow crew members to leave the shuttle untethered and pick up satellites for repair. These activities greatly lessened and then ceased after the Challenger space shuttle explosion of , when it became clear that space shuttles could only launch a few times a year instead of many.

There was a concern that the astronauts were doing risky spacewalks. As well, military satellites were gradually moved to single-use rockets, providing more frequent launch opportunities at a lower cost. What didn't change on space shuttle missions, however, was performing experiments. Over the 30 years of the space shuttle program, some individual cosmonauts and astronauts used the space shuttle for launching, landing or both..

They collectively put in thousands upon thousands of hours of work in space investigating all sorts of science, ranging from human health to engineering to astronomy to animal studies. The space shuttle flew 11 times to the Russian space station Mir between and , with seven American astronauts doing extended stays on the space station.

This was the first major in-space cooperation between Russia and the United States since the Apollo-Soyuz mission of , when Americans and cosmonauts from the Soviet Union docked for a few brief days in space. Perhaps the most famous task that the shuttle undertook was bringing up astronauts, pieces and equipment to build the International Space Station. Completing the space station took 13 years and dozens of shuttle missions; the number of shuttle missions total that docked at the station was 37, or more than one-third of the shuttle's total count of missions.

Besides hundreds of hours of astronaut spacewalks, some of the main components that the space shuttle itself contributed included the European Columbus laboratory, the Harmony node, the Tranquility node, the Japanese Kibo laboratory, solar panels, airlocks and the Canadarm2 robotic arm used for spacecraft berthing.

The space shuttle also carried vital equipment needed for the interior, with some examples including exercise equipment, science racks, toilets and of course, fresh food. The space shuttle is also well known for its repeated successful servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Unfortunately, a flaw in the telescope's mirror was discovered, which greatly compromised its ability to do astronomical observations. The astronauts installed several instruments — including a focus correction system — to complete success, garnering worldwide acclaim after the embarrassment of the initial Hubble launch.

The last servicing mission was initially canceled in following concerns for astronaut safety after the Columbia disaster; since Hubble is on a different orbit from the International Space Station, the crew could not shelter at the station in case the shuttle was damaged. Astronomers worried that there would be too big of a gap between the end of Hubble's lifetime and the beginning of the work of the James Webb Space Telescope, which initially was supposed to launch in but is expected to launch in A new administrator, Michael Griffin, arrived in and authorized a servicing mission for The servicing mission was delayed until STS to add a data-handling unit, replacing one that failed on orbit.

The mission was executed to great success and international attention, and Hubble remains in good health as of The shuttle program had five space shuttles, as wellas the test orbiter Enterprise. Here are some notable facts about each one. While the shuttle program was mostly conducted in space, Enterprise was constructed for drop-and-landing tests in , furthering previous NASA and military work on flying-wing space vehicles.