#Nasa space shuttle launch free

There are a few reasons behind it, primarily that an airplane does not go any faster than 500-600 mph. Image credit: NASA View larger image Beginning with space shuttle Columbia's 1979 delivery to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the center has been home to each of the five flown shuttle orbiters for the. Now that you know all about escape velocity and the importance of making it into orbit really fast, it’s quite simple to understand why rockets don’t take off like airplanes do from a runway. Image above: Space shuttle Atlantis launches Jon the STS-135 mission, the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program. But as the fuel is guzzled at a rapid rate, the shuttle climbs on quickly and by the end of the first minute of flight, it attains a staggering velocity of 1,000 mph (1609 kmph)! ( Source) So Why Don’t Rockets Take Off Like Airplanes? The vertical ascent is slow initially it takes 8 seconds for the shuttle to attain a speed of 100 mph (161 kmph). Only a thrust so strong can possibly launch a shuttle into air with an incredibly high speed. This means the total thrust during a launch is 7.8 million pounds! According to NASA, the thrust provided by the two solid boosters is 6.6 million pounds, whereas the three engines of the shuttle provide almost 1.2 million pounds’ worth thrust. The thrust needed to launch the space shuttle is provided by two solid rockets and three space shuttle engines, all of which operate during lift-off. Main engines of the space shuttle and 2 solid boosters provide the thrust required to gain a high vertical velocity While watching the video of the space shuttle Atlantis landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center the other day, a question popped up in my head: if a space shuttle can land like an airplane, why can’t it take off like one, rather than launching straight up?

#Nasa space shuttle launch free

Therefore, in order to break free from Earth’s gravitational pull, it is essential for a rocket to attain an enormously high speed. For Earth, the escape velocity value is 11.2 kilometers per second (25,020 mph) this means that you have to accelerate a rocket at 11.2 kilometers per second in order to make the orbit. This velocity is known as the ‘ escape velocity’. So Why Don’t Rockets Take Off Like Airplanes?Ī space shuttle needs to attain a velocity so large that it gets travelers high enough to break free from Earth’s strong gravitational pull.How does a rocket climb so fast after its launch?.Why does a rocket need to make it into orbit?.