space shuttle endeavour acceleration rate

However, Enterprise made an invaluable contribution to the shuttle program by showing that the design plans were functional and that future orbiter modules would perform as expected. Interestingly, Enterprise never reached space rather this first orbiter served only as a test vehicle and made a final ferried voyage to Dulles International Airport on Novemwhere it became the property of the Smithsonian Institute. Months of rigorous data collection began on Enterprise: did the finished model fly as designed could the orbiter actually perform a gliding landing were the mathematical stress models used for design consistent with real-world stresses due to liftoff? These questions and others were tested and retested over a nine month period during which the shuttle was ferried from one test center to another on the back of a modified 747. However, despite the trials of design and production, on SeptemOrbiter Enterprise was rolled out of the assembly plant to begin testing.

However, this arena of shuttle engineering would return to haunt the STS program. Again, the issue of reusability challenged NASA scientists to expand the boundaries of engineering and material sciences and develop a wholly novel insulation material. Though previous spacecraft such as those of the Apollo project had overcome this challenge, their heat shields, known as ablative tiles, were designed to be destroyed during reentry as a means to dissipate heat. Further tribulations came in the form of heat shielding materials were needed able to withstand the extreme temperatures due to air friction at speeds reaching Mach 24 during reentry. The need for reusability of the Shuttle's engines provided a technical challenge which required tinkering before an optimal system was produced. The lowered price tag, from $10 to $5.5 billion, altered the fundamental functioning of the shuttle its 'take-off' morphed into the more conventional vertical rocket 'launch' used for previous spacecraft. Unfortunately, the budget for space research was slimming down in the early 1970s and multiple revisions of the Shuttle left only the horizontal landing as a hallmark of its original conceptual design. In fact, before construction began, major overhaul of the Shuttle was needed: the initial design for the Space Shuttle called for an aircraft style take-off from a conventional runway, acceleration and climb to orbiting speed and altitude, and a typical horizontal aircraft landing. Though the future for manned spaceflight looked bright for NASA, the road ahead was not without potholes and speedbumps. Though now the time has come for an heir to succeed the Shuttle and again launch America forward into the future and forefront of space exploration. However, the Space Shuttle, as a step out of Apollo and into the future, has played an invaluable role in the history of space travel. Unfortunately, the STS program has not been without tragedy and loss, manifested in the Challenger and Columbia explosions. The novelty and power of the system is its reusability, as is evidenced by the latest July 26 flight of Discovery, a craft built in 1983 and used for over 30 previous missions. Ingenuity and creativity melded with a desire to bring spaceflight to the masses, a union which borne the Space Transportation System (STS), better known as the Space Shuttle.

The president charged NASA with the task of designing and developing a novel spaceflight vehicle, one that would more than simply follow in the footsteps of the famous Apollo missions of the preceding decade, but would blaze a trail into the future.

On January 5, 1972, it was with these words that President Richard Nixon ushered in a new era in manned spaceflight. So with man's epic voyage into space - a voyage the United States of America has led and still shall lead.'

'We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it', said Oliver Wendell Holmes, 'but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor'.

Space shuttle endeavour acceleration rate