Shuttles, & Space rockets, ( just the facts - a article written in 2007)
NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's current manned launch vehicle. A total of five usable orbiters were built, of which three remain. The winged shuttle orbiter is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronauts (although eight have been carried & eleven could be accommodated in an emergency) & up to 50,000 lb (22,700 kg) of payload into low earth orbit (the thermosphere). When its mission is complete, it fires its maneuvering thrusters to drop out of orbit & re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. During the descent & landing, the shuttle orbiter acts as a glider & makes a completely unpowered landing.
The Shuttle is the first orbital spacecraft designed for partial reusability. It carries large payloads to various orbits, provides crew rotation for the International Space Station (ISS), & performs servicing missions. The orbiter can also recover satellites & other payloads from orbit & return them to Earth, but this capacity has not been used often. However, it has been used to return large payloads from the ISS to Earth, as the Russian Soyuz spacecraft has limited capacity for return payloads. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10 years' operational life.
The first orbiter, Enterprise, was not built for actual space flight, & was used only for testing purposes. Enterprise was followed by four operational space shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery & Atlantis. Challenger was destroyed on launch in 1986, & Endeavour was built as a replacement. Columbia was destroyed on re-entry in 2003.
NASA announced in 2004 that the Space Shuttle will be retired in 2010 & replaced by the Orion, a new vehicle that is designed to take humans to the Moon & beyond.
Function Manned Re-usable Spaceplane
Manufacturer United Space Alliance:
Thiokol/Boeing (SRBs)
Lockheed Martin
(Martin Marietta) - (ET)
Rockwell International (orbiter)
Country of origin
USA
Size
Height 58.12 m (149.6 ft)
Diameter 8.7 m (28.5 ft)
Mass
2,029,203 kg (4,474,574 lb)
Stages 2
Capacity
Payload to LEO 24,400
kg (53,700 lb)
Payload to
GTO 3,810 kg (8,390 lb)
The Soyuz launch
vehicle (Western designation: A-2) is an expendable launch system manufactured
by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia. It is used as the launcher for the manned
Soyuz spacecraft as part of the Soyuz program. It is now also used to launch unmanned
Progress supply spacecraft to the International Space Station & for commercial
launches marketed & operated by TsSKB-Progress & Spatial Guyanais in French
Guiana. Soyuz-U rockets are fueled with kerosene, but the Soyuz-U2 rocket used
a variant called Syntin.
Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed by Sergey Korolyov for the Soviet Union's space program. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft design & were originally built as part of the Soviet Manned Lunar program. The first unmanned launch of the Soyuz was on November 28, 1966. The first manned launch of the Soyuz was on April 23, 1967. Currently, the Soyuz spacecraft family is still in service & has launched more manned space missions than any other platform. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched by the Soyuz launch vehicle, as part of the Soyuz program & in the later missions as part of the Zond program. They were later used to carry cosmonauts to & from the Salyut & Mir space stations & are now used for transport to & from the International Space Station.
Here are many great space sites
An Index with links to almost all our sites.
A Picture of Jupiter, & a Picture of Florida from Space
A Top picture of a Space Shuttle taking off A Top picture of Stars A Nebula
SOLAR SYSTEM RECORD BREAKERS, facts like the tallest mountain for the planets
A site saying the 10 most famous aliens ever
A Clock saying how many people have landed on each planet in our Solar System
Jokes to say to aliens that are offending you
Joke names for aliens, our worst Space site
A List of space associated TV programmes & Movies
http://www.lonympics.co.uk/Olympus Mons.htm Tallest mountain, & volcano in the solar system, & Mars.
A Picture of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon
What would happen if Marsians invaded
A Multiple Choice Quiz on Space
The Moon Deimos The Moon Phobos
Some interesting facts about Space
How Many people have landed on each of our Planets see, in this space clock
A list of Planets that could be colonised by humanity
Some plans for colonising Venus
Jupiter
- the facts
The Moon - the facts
A Quiz on space related TV & movies
The
facts on Space Stations Jodrell
Bank the facts
Ganymede
the facts The Facts on the
Moon Europa
Some ideas for stories, & movie ideas I have had, including some on space
One
of our sites on space in French The
same site in Spanish
A 1 move snippet game, a game where you are 1 space nation fighting another. in Space armageddon
The Entrance to the INTERNET SAFARI, with real animals, most of us had never seen before.
Global Geography, sites like what are the 10 largest English speaking countries, 10 largest Celtic cities, biggest forests, volcanoes,
SOLAR SYSTEM RECORD BREAKERS, facts like the tallest mountain for the planets
Which are the 10 most powerful countries in 2008___
10 Biggest Banks Histories Famous Gates Famous Walls Quizzes Famous Roads Internet Sea Safari, The Most Powerful Countries Ever