The Space Shuttle

 

Text Box: This would be a  picture of one very famous space shuttle getting ready to lift off.       

 

Text Box: With the first mission spacewalk complete, the combined shuttle and station crews will work on preparing the station for future crews and transferring supplies and equipment to the station. The crew members will install several racks in the Destiny laboratory, as well as additional crew quarters. The equipment being installed during STS-126 will provide additional capability for the station to house astronauts and to increase the station crew size from three to six by spring 2009. The crews also will prepare for the second spacewalk of the mission. Mission specialists Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough will venture outside of the station Thursday.                                                                          


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: A complex system of distillers and filters is at the heart of a water recycling system that will eventually supply International Space Station crews with drinking water.                                          

 

Text Box: this is what you would look forward to seeing in your hour to year ride in a space shuttle                                                        

 

Text Box: officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions. At launch, it consists of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged spaceplane which is the space shuttle in the narrow sense. The orbiter carries astronauts and payload such as satellites or space station parts into low earth orbit, into the Earth's upper atmosphere or thermosphere.[1] Usually, five to seven crew members ride in the orbiter. The payload capacity is 22,700 kg (50,000 lb). When the orbiter's mission is complete it fires its Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enters the lower atmosphere.[1] During the descent and landing, the shuttle orbiter acts as a glider, and makes a completely unpowered ("dead stick") landing                       

 

Text Box: ­­In its 26-year history, the space shuttle program has seen exhilarating highs and devastating lows. The fleet has taken astronauts on dozens of successful missions­, resulting in immeasurable scientific gains. But this success has had a serious cost. In 1986, the Challenger exploded during launch. In 2003, 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 2005 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 2006, 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 fligh Text Box: After landing at 4:17 p.m 20 July 1969 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and six hours later Neil A. Armstrong took the Small step into our greater future when he stepped off the Lunar Module, name Eagle onto the surface of the Moon ,from which he could look up and see Earth in the sky . He was shortly joined by Buzz Aldrin, and the two astronuats spent 21 hours on the Lunar surface and returned with 46 pounds of Lunar Rocks. After their historic walks on the moon, they successfully docked with Michael Collins,in the Command Module Columbia.       October 1 , 1958 the official start of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) , was the begining of the great history of unique scientific and technological achievement in human space flight. It was a result of the Sputnik crisis because on October 4 , 1957 Russians launched the first artificial Satellite from Balkonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan which demonstrated the technological superiority of Communism. They equipped the Sputnik with transmitters to broadcast on frequencies at 20 and 40 Mhz so everyone will know it's up there. The Soviet Satellite Circles the Globe every 90 minutes.      In 1961 , President Kennedy challenged the Russians in a race to the moon. In 1969 , the U.S. got to the MOON first and the Russians re-focused their efforts on permant presence in space with a Space Station.       NASA successful sent human land on the Moon by Three Programs as follows:       first program was Mercury Project, an effort to learn if humans could survive in space. The project demonstrated the abilities to reach the space , maintain an orbit and return to earth safely.                                   

Text Box:   second follow the mercury project was Gemini Project, which built upon Mercury's successes and used spacecraft built for two astronauts. The project demonstrated rendezvous and docking with other spacecraft , Extravehicular Activity (EVA) or space walking , and sustaining astronuats for extended period of time in space.       third , Apollo project which finally demonstrated the capabilities of reaching the MOON , Orbiting it , Landing on it , and Returning to Earth safely.