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The Shuttle, when it comes back Earth just behave like a spatial glider! It has no way to brake between the orbit and the landing! When it's time to go home, the Shuttle usually is upside down. On the other hand, it's rotated tailfirst and its engines are fired. This is called a 'deorbit burn'. The deorbit burn just slows the Shuttle, and... the Shuttle begins its descent out of orbit. The Space Shuttle is slowed by 148 miles per hour (217 feet per second) (237 km/h -66 m/s) This is taking place half-the planet -and one hour- before the landing site. This means that, for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center, the deorbit burn is performed over the Indian ocean! The orbiter, then, is turned nose forward, in an upright position as it descends towards the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. 25 minutes later, the Space Shuttle just is reaching the point of its altitude where it meets the atmosphere! The orbiter is then at 400,000 ft -80 miles (129 km) of altitude- and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from the landing site. The entry phase, strictly speaking, has begun a little earlier, at 557,000 ft. When reaching the 400,000-ft mark, the orbiter's nose is raised at an angle of 40°. This is to that the thermal shield, which protects the Shuttle, be correctly oriented
thumbnail to a sketch illustrating the descent of the shuttle
click for a a sketch illustrating the descent of the Space Shuttle
The re-entry into the atmosphere occurs between 265,000 ft and 162,000 ft. The radio contact then is interrupted, due to the heat, during about 16 minutes as the heat shield tiles are heated up to 3,000°F (1,650 °C). Then comes the time when the Shuttle performs a series of four tight turns. Such turns aim at slowing the Shuttle down. It's at 140 miles from the runway, at an altitude of 150,000 ft, that the orbiter begins to catch the landing site's TACAN -that is a radio-navigation aid of the military type, helping the Shuttle to steer home. The Shuttle's speed gets down to Mach 3 -about 1,870 mph (3,000 km/h). When the Shuttle has come to 25 miles from the runway, at an altitude of 50,000 ft -with a speed now under Mach 1 -321 mph, (1,000 km/h), it's the mission's commander who takes the control of the orbiter, disconnecting the autopilot which conducted the operations until then. The commander, then, flies the approach and the landing! He uses an instrument aid called the 'Scanning Beam Landing System'. To get aligned with the runway, the Shuttle sometimes has to make a full 360° turn, of 4 miles (6,5 km) in diameter. The altitude, during the turn, is passing from 50,000 to 10,000 ft. During its descent towards the runway threshold, the orbiter may have the nose up by as much as 19° or it may have the nose down. The angle of the slope to the runway is larger than, for example, the one of an airliner, as the orbiter is descending 20 times faster -and with a speed of about 300 kts!
At 2,000 ft and 1 mile (1,6 km) from the runway's threshold, the commander flares the Shuttle to a shallow nose-up/tail-down position for the landing. This has the effect of slowing the descent. Gears down! The touchdown occurs at a speed of 220 mph (about 190 knots, 354 km/h). An airliner usually touches down at about 140 knots. A parachute deploys. It's braking the speed of the orbiter, as the nose if lowered unto the runway. The Shuttle keeps rolling for a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) as it eventually comes to a slow stop by the end of the runway. Here we are! The Space Shuttle has landed!
got these Information from:http://stars5.netfirms.com/shuttle.htm
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Why did Americans invent the space shuttle?
THe American's built the space shuttle to have a reusable rocket that could go out into space and come back to earth.
What happens when a space shuttle leaves your atmosphere?
It will go to space and come back to earth in 2 years.
How long will it take a Space Shuttle to go from Earth to Mercury?
It can't. And there's no way to redesign it so that it can, all the shuttle can do is to go up to low Earth orbit and come back down.
How does a space shuttle work?
first the rocket boosters carry it into space then the external tank pushes the shuttle above earth then when the shuttle is ready the external tank falls off and the shuttle is ready for its mission then after its mission the shuttle lands and blows out a parachute come out from the back to help the shuttle slow down.any parts from the rocket or shuttle can be reused except the external tank.
Why do the space shuttles get hot when they come back to earth?
landing
Why did Americans invent the space shuttle?
THe American's built the space shuttle to have a reusable rocket that could go out into space and come back to earth.
What happens when a space shuttle leaves your atmosphere?
It will go to space and come back to earth in 2 years.
How long will it take a Space Shuttle to go from Earth to Mercury?
It can't. And there's no way to redesign it so that it can, all the shuttle can do is to go up to low Earth orbit and come back down.
How does space shuttle work?
first the rocket boosters carry it into space then the external tank pushes the shuttle above earth then when the shuttle is ready the external tank falls off and the shuttle is ready for its mission then after its mission the shuttle lands and blows out a parachute come out from the back to help the shuttle slow down.any parts from the rocket or shuttle can be reused except the external tank.
How does a space shuttle work?
first the rocket boosters carry it into space then the external tank pushes the shuttle above earth then when the shuttle is ready the external tank falls off and the shuttle is ready for its mission then after its mission the shuttle lands and blows out a parachute come out from the back to help the shuttle slow down.any parts from the rocket or shuttle can be reused except the external tank.
When space shuttle sent to Pluto will come back on earth?
I think it was sent in 2000 and it takes about 14 years to get there so it might get there in 2014 and get back here in2028
How can fire lighten in space without oxygen if there is no oxygen then how can a space shuttle come back?
The space shuttle is able to fire its engines in space because it takes the needed oxygen with it.
If a shuttle was in space could it shut off its thrusters to remain at the same speed?
Absolutely. That's what being in orbit means. As long as the Shuttle remains in orbit it uses no power. When it wants to come back to Earth. It uses its rocket engines to slow down, the it falls back to earth.
Can a space shuttle land on mars?
No. A meteorite is an object that has already come through the Earth's atmosphere from space. On the way down, they are called meteors. A space shuttle, whether above or below the atmosphere, would need to avoid meteors at all costs. Since meteors are just rocks on the way from space to Earth, a shuttle therefore could not travel to them. Two kinds of space objects that spacecraft "could" travel to are comets and asteroids. But the space shuttle is not the proper kind of vehicle for such explorations.
If a space shuttle takes off from earth and leaves the atmosphere and come straight down would it land in the same spot it took off from?
No! The Earth we stand on is rotating, and if a rocket were to launch straight up and come right back down the Earth would have rotated to the right and the space craft would land to the west of the launch pad.
What was the first space shuttle to go into space and come back?
I was almost certainly sure that it was the shuttle enterprise in the early 80's, I remember trek fans demanding it from NASA. I could be wrong though!
Why do the space shuttles get hot when they come back to earth?
landing
