Anatomy of a space shuttle The components The idea of the space shuttle was first conceived in the 1960's, and was seen as a natural progression from the successful Apollo Moon program. In 1981 the space shuttle became the world's first re-usable spacecraft launched into space. In April 1969, a space shuttle task group was formed. The group decided that the best design consisted of two rocket-powered aircraft - a booster and an orbiter, one sitting on top of the other. The booster, approximately the size of a Boeing 747, would fly to a high altitude, where the orbiter would detach and fly into orbit. The booster then returned to a runway for landing. While the cheapest to operate; this design was the costliest to develop. The orbiter is the main component of the space shuttle. The first orbiter built was named Enterprise and was used for flight and landing tests. But it never moved past the test phase and is now part of the Smithsonian's Air and Space display at Dulles International Airport. The designers replaced the piloted booster with two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to either side of the expendable fuel tank and moved the orbiter to the top of the tank, in place of a piloted rocket plane. To reduce the very high cost, air breathing engines (for landing) and a crew ejection system were removed. The central structure of the space shuttle is the orange external tank - the only part of the space shuttle not reused. Initially the tank was painted white but after the first two flights theengineers realised that not painting the tank saved over 500 kilograms in weight. They are now left orange (the colour of the primer). The solid fuel used in the SRBs consists mostly of powered aluminium, which gives the exhaust a bright white colour. It has a consistency of putty and looks similar in colour to 'bouncing putty' or foundation make-up. President Nixon approved the final design on 5 January 1972. NASA envisaged that the space shuttle would make 570 flights during the period 1980-2000. How the width of the SRBs relates to horse's bums. SRBs are highly explosive and they are transported, laying on their sides, to Kennedy Space Center in Florida by rail. The rockets obviously can't be wider than the tunnels the train passes through on the journey. Train tunnels are only slightly wider than the gauge of the train track, which in the US is the same as the United Kingdom (4 foot, 8.5 inches). This gauge was based on the width of tracks used in mines which in turn were based on the width of roads, first built by the Romans during the occupation of Briton 2000 years ago. The Romans built their roads wide enough for two horses to stand side by side while pulling chariots. Name that orbiter From late 1970's until 1991, five space-worthy orbiters were built. All were named after famous sailing ships: Columbia - the first US ship to circumnavigate the globe.

Challenger - British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger, which sailed across the Atlantic and Pacific in the 1870's.

Atlantis - the first US oceanic research ship (1930-66).

Discovery - used by Captain Cook to explore the northern Pacific Ocean.

Endeavour - Captain Cook's ship exploring the eastern coast of Australia and New Zealand. Which mission? Each space shuttle mission is preceded with the letters STS, which stand for Space Transportation System. The first flights sequentially numbered STS-1, STS-2, etc. In 1984, NASA decided to change their numbering system to reflect the proposed increased workload and because of a second launch facility. The first digit represented the financial year that the mission was scheduled, the second represented the launch facility (1 - Kennedy Space Center, 2 - Vandeburg Air Force Base). A letter would then show the order of that mission in the flight roster. Therefore STS-9 also became known as STS 41-A, which was then followed by STS 41-B, STS 51-A and STS 51-G. After the Challenger accident (STS 51-L), NASA reverted back to its original numbering systems and thus the next mission was labelled STS-26. Even though a space shuttle launch facility was built at Vandeburg Air Force Base, it was never used and was recently pulled down, at a massive cost.



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