Shuttle launch

[Guest ozzie]

just watched the shuttle lift off. wow what a machine. almost six and a half million pounds of thrust. (and here i am puttering around on 70lbs.) what a shame this has just about reached it's used by date. i wanna go!

 

ozzie

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

The big white clouds that come out from underneath the shuttle once the boosters ignite, are actually millions of gallons of salt water being vapourized by the booster exhaust nozzles. The big tanks of water underneath the boosters are there to absorb the shock of the ignition.

 

Nasa built another new shuttle launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force base in California. They were going to launch shuttles from that site. Instead of the big water tanks they had huge concrete pads sitting on huge springs, which were designed to not only absorb the ignition shock, but to also produce a little 'kick' effect at launch, which would have supposably increased the payload.

 

Although the facility was completed, it was never used because somebody forgot about all the nearby earthquake faults, which deemed it unsafe and unuseable !.

 

Another few US$ billion down the drain.

 

Have you watched a reentry and landing live on NASA TV Ozzie ??....magic stuff.

 

I have a mission patch from the first launch with Young and Crippen on board, totally experimental and nobody knew if it would work or not. That first launch had ejection seats fitted for Young and Crippen. The only one to do so. I still think it took huge gonads anyway.

 

:kboom:

 

 

[Relfy]

The main engines on the shuttle are an incredible piece of human engineering and achievement. Here are some interesting facts about the engines.

 

Rocketdyne’s Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) operates

 

at greater temperature extremes than any mechanical

 

system in common use today. The fuel, liquid hydrogen,

 

is –423°F, the second coldest liquid on Earth, and when

 

burned with liquid oxygen, the temperature in the engine’s

 

combustion chamber reaches +6000°F – that’s higher than

 

the boiling point of iron.

 

The maximum equivalent horsepower developed by the

 

three SSMEs is just over 37 million horsepower.

 

The energy released by three of Rocketdyne’s SSMEs is

 

equivalent to the output of 13 Hoover Dams.

 

Although not much larger than an automobile engine, the

 

SSME high-pressure fuel turbopump generates 100 hp

 

for each pound of its weight, while an automobile engine

 

generates about 0.5 hp for each pound of its weight.

 

Even though Rocketdyne’s SSME weighs one-seventh as

 

much as a locomotive engine, its high-pressure fuel pump

 

alone delivers as much horsepower as 28 locomotives,

 

while its high-pressure oxidizer pump delivers the

 

equivalent horsepower for 11 more.

 

If water instead of fuel were pumped by the three

 

Rocketdyne SSMEs, an average family-sized swimming

 

pool could be drained in 25 seconds.

 

The SSME high-pressure fuel turbopump main shaft

 

rotates at 37,000 rpm compared to about 3,000 rpm for an

 

automobile engine operating at 60 mph.

 

Discharge pressure of an SSME high-pressure fuel

 

turbopump could send a column of liquid hydrogen 36

 

miles in the air.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes those are an interesting piece of gear, and have some degree of throttling. Once you light the solids, you are going somewhere Baby !!....there's no shutting them off.

 

I believe there is one of those turbo pump engines in the Powewrhouse museum ?.

 

 

[winsor68]

They are AMAZING machines...that is a LOT of thrust...

 

NASA Images

 

 

[flying dog]

I thought the Saturn 5 engines were the "best bang for you buck" but couldn't be used because they "weren't compatible" with the shuttle.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

The Saturn V was overloaded with fuel when it was ignited it was still being fed fuel as it took several seconds for the engines to come up to power so it sat on the pad burning off the fuel until it could lift off ever so slow compared to the kick in the pants launch of the shuttle when the sbr's light. very spectacular they were.