I remember this night... It was the first rocket launch I’ve ever witnessed. We had just moved in to our new home in Florida. I remember me and my parents were sitting on the couch watching on News 13. Right as we saw the shuttle lift off, we all rushed outside to see the launch. I remember seeing that orange streak of light pass through the night sky. All of us gazed up looking at this spectacular launch. That was the night I fell in love with space travel. Years later I still try to catch every rocket launch I can see from my house. From watching Space Shuttle launches to Falcon 9 launches, the view never gets old. It’s always such a breathtaking sight seeing these amazing launches!
I was at this launch. One of the most profound experiences of my life. I've always watched the launches from my home but I live about 90 minutes south of KSC so being so close was amazing! ISS passed over us about 5 mins prior to launch and then 5 minutes later night became day for a minute. It's hard to explain to the rest of the country how amazing and important the space program is to us not only as a nation but as a species.
chocolate_hawk55 ive never been to one. do the engines actually sound similar to the many videos of launches? though i guess they do sound different when you are further away
Thomas Minnich It does sound very much like it does when watching on TV. The only difference is the sound is obviously louder and fuller. From the distance I was at it took about a full minute before we actually heard anything. It's strange to watch this event happening in silence for a full minute before you actually hear anything so initially it's quite peaceful and then the sound waves hit you so hard you can feel it rattling your chest.
This was my 3rd night launch from Kennedy Space Center, and my 7th night launched viewed total. Living in Macon, GA at the Macon Downtown Airport (KMAC) has an advantage of being 100 feet above the rest of the surrounding area which made viewing launches from that location possible. This launch was special to me besides from the obvious last night shuttle launch ever. First, I watched this from KSC with four great friends while my 7 month old watched from home at KMAC. Second is seen at 7:45 where a mysterious "paramecium" effect is shown. My friend and I both veterans of launches both looked at each other in wonder what that was. Third and most amazing was the "dragon tail" smoke trail left behind and viewed for hours after the launch. My son saw this same smoke trail from KMAC. Yes, I am very happy to see this video uploaded!
@jshaw6000 It's actually tiny bits of foam "popcorning" off of the external tank (ET). Any foam coming off the ET from about 15 seconds to 120 seconds into the flight is when there's the highest risk of damage to the orbiter's skin. Lessons learned since STS-114.
I stayed up all night to watch the live feed of this, and it was amazing! I was even able to see a slight glimmer of the launch from Auburn AL around the T+3-4min mark. Really wish I could have seen a launch in person.
"Houston, Discovery... Roll programme..." "Roger roll Discovery" That always sounds cool, I'm gonna miss that. Such a shame the STS programme is coming to an end.
I saw Discovery at the Air & Space Museum next to Dulles Airport. It is an awesome sight. I got there when they opened so not many people there at that time. There was about 15 to 32 seconds when I was alone in the hanger with Discovery. It was awesome.
@Sportsboii751000 Orbital velocity is ~17,500 mph. Escape velocity is 25,000 mph. The shuttle orbiter can't reach escape velocity. There's a podcast about this on spacevidcast's website. There's nothing missing from this launch sequence. MECO (main engine cut off) is the end of the launch phase, aside from a circularizing burn after ET (external tank) separation, about 40 minutes later.
Saw this at the Kennedy Space center as a kid. The rumbles in the ground. Looked like a giant fireball. I come back to this video once in a while to relive such an amazing memory that sparked my love for aviation and space.
I had no idea there was a launch scheduled on this day when we were checking out of our resort room in Orlando that morning. We got up early and decided to try to make it down to the beach area to see our first launch ever. It was the last night launch of the Shuttle, so I knew it'd be a special treat for the kids (and daddy). I grew up on the space program, as my dad worked for one of the companies that worked in support of it out on the west coast. As we got closer to the beach the traffic ground to a stop, so everyone just got out of their cars right there on the highway and sat or stood on top of their cars as the countdown dropped. My girls were listening to the last seconds of the countdown, and I knew at t minus 8 seconds the ignition sequence would start so I said "here it goes", but because we were obviously still miles from the launch pad they couldn't really tell anything was happening- until the solids lit up! In the dark it looked as though a sun was rising north of us! An amazing sight. They wondered where the sound was and I told them it would take a little while for it to reach us, then it did. As it towered away from us we got back in the car and drove on to the beach. The real sunrise got under way for a spectacular morning on the Cape. I miss the Shuttle program.
5:03 into the launch... The Orbiter seen from the KSC visible with the naked eye. 262 miles away. That's nearly the exact distance, as the crow flies, from the Renaissance Center in Detroit, to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. Crazy...
@Stover36 It was an issue with the older Spacevidcast ascent scripts. We fixed the problem after this flight and made the data a LOT more fluid. Also made it so if there was one error in the data, it wouldn't trickle to other areas like it did here.
@1floss1 Nah the launch pads have sound suppression systems in place, which serve a dual role; absorb vibrations caused by the shock waves caused by the energy released by the rockets, and absorb a lot of the heat. Not all of it though, there's always some damage after each launch. They don't need to rebuild new pads or launch platforms though.
@Hoffy490 It's a flare stack about 600 ft behind the launch pad relative to camera angle. Burns off vented hydrogen to keep a very dangerous atmosphere from building up around the pad. Oxygen and hydrogen don't get along well, so they route the hydrogen away from the pad to burn and prevent uncontrolled explosions. The sparklers seen at T-10 serve the same purpose; they ignite to burn off any H2 as well, so that unburned O2 and H2 don't make an uncontrolled explosion. Would damage the SSMEs
@abcpete Gaseous oxygen is vented from the beanie cap and the engines. the GUCP (ground umbilical carrier plate) routes hydrogen away from the orbiter to the flare stack to be safely burned away. The beanie cap is directly over top the LOX tank vent ports.
This was the most gourgeous and fanastic shuttle launch I've ever seen. No, really, this was beautiful. Oh, Discovery, you seem to be having some camera problems. It's a shame that the shuttle series is almost over, though...
@Trex1094 Repair? Possibly. Depends on amount of damage, really. If the engineers on the ground feel the orbiter is more likely to disintegrate during reentry, they'll tell the orbiter to go back to the ISS and use it as a safe haven until the rescue shuttle can come get them. Called "Launch On Need" (LON), it can fly within 30 days to grab the crew. Depending on damage, the broken orbiter would be deorbited with a possibility of landing unmanned, or be destroyed (unmanned) over the Pacific.
@skateboy159 The higher a rocket goes, the less atmosphere there is to keep the rocket's 'flame' contained in a given shape. As it goes up, the atmospheric pressure decreases and the shape of the plume gets wider
@Psy0psAgent Because there are 300,000 gallons of water dumped on the pad by the time the shuttle clears the tower. It absorbs the shockwaves and helps cool the pad.
@bigusmcguy Not to nitpick, just a clarification of terminology. The command and response is "go at throttle up", meaning everything is still A-OK at throttle up. Everything is still go (no problems).
@DerCooleOnkelCharlie The roll program is to reduce gravitational pressure on the shuttle and crew. This is also why they throttle back, so the pressure is 3 times gravity. Another reason is to allow communication with ground crews.
The reason they throttle back shortly after liftoff is to reduce stress on the shuttle during the area of max Q. This is the point in the launch where aerodynamic forces on the shuttle are greatest, and accelerating too hard through this zone could cause damage to the shuttle. At this point, the crew is only experiencing around 2g, slightly less through max Q, and then back up to around 2G. The only time the shuttle throttles back to reduce G forces (keeping them to max of 3G) on the CREW is during the final moments leading up to MECO, where the vehicle is lightest having burnt most of its fuel.
The cyclical noise prior to the water sound suppression system activation is actually the APU's on board the orbiter. These supply hydraulic pressure for moving the vehicle's control surfaces during flight.
@shakenama There are three more flight. One for Discovery, one for Endeavour in February (STS-134), and one (as of now) in June for Atlantis (STS-135). There is discussion and rumors of delaying Atlantis until next September though. Too early to know for sure at this point.
I believe there are two options. One would be to exceed the 17000 mp/h. The other (and commonly done), is to meet it coming from the direction the ISS is heading. I'm not exactly sure though. I only know that the ISS is going 17000 mph in order to stay in orbit. So logically thinking, the shuttle chasing it would have to be faster than 17000 mph in order to catch up on it.
My favorite part is always that literally the SECOND they clear the tower, it's in Houston's hands - so so so many miles away from the launch site/launch control. The handoff always seems so seamless.
@bogellenong That was bits of ice coming off of the external tank. But what I am curious about is the flame seen on the left-side (from the camera p.o.v.) of the tower starting at 1:23?
@Trex1094 They had no way to confirm, and even if they did, they had no options to repair it. One Linda Ham decided that the damage wasn't bad enough to warrant further investigation after the foam impact. She was relocated from the STS program to Ares.
@stinkykyle96 That's not actually a shockwave. It's some sort of unexplainable long-range videographic phenomenon. They break the sound barrier at about T+45 seconds or so. It never takes more than that to hit mach 1 unless one of the main engines has to be throttled back or shut down early.
@mailtrap22 STS-1 was heavily damaged due to the sound suppression system not flowing enough water. The body flap on the orbiter was deflected beyond design limits. Had Young and Crippen known of all of the issues with the launch, they would have performed an RTLS.
@iweedman12 Lands in the Atlantic where they are picked up and re-used. There's a video on TH-cam with cameras on board each of the boosters so you can watch their entire trip from launch to landing in the ocean.
@PhantomDrums917 Zaragoza is a city in Spain, where NASA have a backup base. In case of engine failure, the shuttle can fly with a single engine over the Atlantic and land on Zaragoza's base.
@puncheex Negative, gaseous oxygen is vented from the beanie cap and the engines. the GUCP (ground umbilical carrier plate) routes hydrogen away from the orbiter to the flare stack to be safely burned away.
Absolutely beautiful. Nothing like a shuttle launch... Especially at night. Simply gorgeous (although nothing simple about it.. a true feat of science and engineering)
@ umm simply put, To balance the momentum (mass x velocity) downward of the thrust, the rocket must generate a momentum of equal magnitude but in the opposite direction (Law of conservation of momentum). This is done by the equal but opposite thrust force pushing back into the shuttle (3rd law of motion) accelerating it up.
If they launch the shuttle before the ISS's arrival, then put the shuttle in a slightly higher orbit (which would mean the shuttle is slower than the ISS), they can allow the ISS to catch up to the shuttle. When it's close enough they'll fire the shuttle's engines until the two are moving at the same velocity. Then they'll slowly move towards each other, which is a different story altogether.
All of that weight that gets lifted off the ground is pretty amazing in itself, what sort of liquid components does the rocket thrust contain please? Thanks.
@D3ADPiXELS Speculating here: That might just mean "no data" or an error. If you look at how the values update from top to bottom, those numbers are simply "updated" with white squares. So it's likely the data stopped being sent since they're now in space. (could be some other explanation - this is just an educated guess)
@Sportsboii751000 Just to point out one thing, things that create thrust don't really have escape velocity, since they can escape Earth 1 mph if they want. The escape velocity is for projectiles, like satellites.
Watched Atlantis during a night time launch and while this doesn’t give the full effect it’s literally like somebody has turned the lights on in the surrounding area, albeit for just 15 seconds or so. Quite amazing
I remember this night...
It was the first rocket launch I’ve ever witnessed. We had just moved in to our new home in Florida. I remember me and my parents were sitting on the couch watching on News 13. Right as we saw the shuttle lift off, we all rushed outside to see the launch. I remember seeing that orange streak of light pass through the night sky. All of us gazed up looking at this spectacular launch. That was the night I fell in love with space travel.
Years later I still try to catch every rocket launch I can see from my house. From watching Space Shuttle launches to Falcon 9 launches, the view never gets old. It’s always such a breathtaking sight seeing these amazing launches!
i never get tired of watching these launches!!! amazing stuff!
Me also
Same here!
I was at this launch. One of the most profound experiences of my life. I've always watched the launches from my home but I live about 90 minutes south of KSC so being so close was amazing! ISS passed over us about 5 mins prior to launch and then 5 minutes later night became day for a minute. It's hard to explain to the rest of the country how amazing and important the space program is to us not only as a nation but as a species.
So was I, it was by far the most spectacular thing I've ever seen.
chocolate_hawk55
ive never been to one. do the engines actually sound similar to the many videos of launches? though i guess they do sound different when you are further away
Thomas Minnich It does sound very much like it does when watching on TV. The only difference is the sound is obviously louder and fuller. From the distance I was at it took about a full minute before we actually heard anything. It's strange to watch this event happening in silence for a full minute before you actually hear anything so initially it's quite peaceful and then the sound waves hit you so hard you can feel it rattling your chest.
Thomas Minnich I was 11 miles away, but the engines still shook the earth and set off a few car alarms.
This was my 3rd night launch from Kennedy Space Center, and my 7th night launched viewed total. Living in Macon, GA at the Macon Downtown Airport (KMAC) has an advantage of being 100 feet above the rest of the surrounding area which made viewing launches from that location possible. This launch was special to me besides from the obvious last night shuttle launch ever. First, I watched this from KSC with four great friends while my 7 month old watched from home at KMAC. Second is seen at 7:45 where a mysterious "paramecium" effect is shown. My friend and I both veterans of launches both looked at each other in wonder what that was. Third and most amazing was the "dragon tail" smoke trail left behind and viewed for hours after the launch. My son saw this same smoke trail from KMAC. Yes, I am very happy to see this video uploaded!
stunning stunning stunning, I will never tire of watching stuff like this, technology like poetry in motion.
❤
OMG Mach 24.7!!!! 16,817.58 MPH!! That is amazing, almost unbelieveable. For me, watching a space shuttle launch is mind blowing.
I never ever ever get sick of watching this . You brave astronauts deserve all the accolades you deserve.
"Go at throttle up" was a routine moment in each launch, but it produced only one memory.....
rpwVideoInstruction One time they said that ended tragically
Yea you have right rpw😢.... the final words to the "Challanger Crew"...i hope they Rest in Peace...
@jshaw6000 It's actually tiny bits of foam "popcorning" off of the external tank (ET). Any foam coming off the ET from about 15 seconds to 120 seconds into the flight is when there's the highest risk of damage to the orbiter's skin. Lessons learned since STS-114.
I stayed up all night to watch the live feed of this, and it was amazing! I was even able to see a slight glimmer of the launch from Auburn AL around the T+3-4min mark. Really wish I could have seen a launch in person.
space shuttle launches are one of the most amazing things ever.
"Houston, Discovery...
Roll programme..."
"Roger roll Discovery"
That always sounds cool, I'm gonna miss that. Such a shame the STS programme is coming to an end.
I saw Discovery at the Air & Space Museum next to Dulles Airport. It is an awesome sight. I got there when they opened so not many people there at that time. There was about 15 to 32 seconds when I was alone in the hanger with Discovery. It was awesome.
@Sportsboii751000 Orbital velocity is ~17,500 mph. Escape velocity is 25,000 mph. The shuttle orbiter can't reach escape velocity. There's a podcast about this on spacevidcast's website.
There's nothing missing from this launch sequence. MECO (main engine cut off) is the end of the launch phase, aside from a circularizing burn after ET (external tank) separation, about 40 minutes later.
Watched this launch from space view park in Titusville on the Indian River. Really nice setting just before sunrise.
I watched it from there too.
I will miss these Shuttles :(
Saw this at the Kennedy Space center as a kid. The rumbles in the ground. Looked like a giant fireball. I come back to this video once in a while to relive such an amazing memory that sparked my love for aviation and space.
I had no idea there was a launch scheduled on this day when we were checking out of our resort room in Orlando that morning. We got up early and decided to try to make it down to the beach area to see our first launch ever. It was the last night launch of the Shuttle, so I knew it'd be a special treat for the kids (and daddy). I grew up on the space program, as my dad worked for one of the companies that worked in support of it out on the west coast. As we got closer to the beach the traffic ground to a stop, so everyone just got out of their cars right there on the highway and sat or stood on top of their cars as the countdown dropped. My girls were listening to the last seconds of the countdown, and I knew at t minus 8 seconds the ignition sequence would start so I said "here it goes", but because we were obviously still miles from the launch pad they couldn't really tell anything was happening- until the solids lit up! In the dark it looked as though a sun was rising north of us! An amazing sight. They wondered where the sound was and I told them it would take a little while for it to reach us, then it did. As it towered away from us we got back in the car and drove on to the beach. The real sunrise got under way for a spectacular morning on the Cape. I miss the Shuttle program.
These shuttle launches are truly a thing of beauty.
5:03 into the launch... The Orbiter seen from the KSC visible with the naked eye. 262 miles away. That's nearly the exact distance, as the crow flies, from the Renaissance Center in Detroit, to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. Crazy...
Great video. Our family watched the launch from the Astronaut Hall of Fame. What an awesome experience.
I got to watch this from the causeway live! Easily the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Beautiful!
Im blessed to be able to watch a space shuttle launch online and also growup in a generation That had the space shuttle
@Stover36 It was an issue with the older Spacevidcast ascent scripts. We fixed the problem after this flight and made the data a LOT more fluid. Also made it so if there was one error in the data, it wouldn't trickle to other areas like it did here.
Holy crap, this is an awesome video! Spacevidcast, you rule!
I've always loved night launches. The view from Indian River is the best. The fire is so bright it literally turns night into day
@1floss1 Nah the launch pads have sound suppression systems in place, which serve a dual role; absorb vibrations caused by the shock waves caused by the energy released by the rockets, and absorb a lot of the heat. Not all of it though, there's always some damage after each launch. They don't need to rebuild new pads or launch platforms though.
such a beautiful sight. So much effort put into making it all happen
After Mondays final launch of Discovery and for the entire Shuttle program as it comes to a close after 29 years, it'll never be the same :-(
don’t be sad we have reusable rockets 12yrs later
@Hoffy490 It's a flare stack about 600 ft behind the launch pad relative to camera angle. Burns off vented hydrogen to keep a very dangerous atmosphere from building up around the pad. Oxygen and hydrogen don't get along well, so they route the hydrogen away from the pad to burn and prevent uncontrolled explosions. The sparklers seen at T-10 serve the same purpose; they ignite to burn off any H2 as well, so that unburned O2 and H2 don't make an uncontrolled explosion. Would damage the SSMEs
This makes solving differential equations worth it :-)
@abcpete Gaseous oxygen is vented from the beanie cap and the engines. the GUCP (ground umbilical carrier plate) routes hydrogen away from the orbiter to the flare stack to be safely burned away. The beanie cap is directly over top the LOX tank vent ports.
by far the best space launch video i have seen
We humans are capable of greatness.
The Vehicle Ascent Statistics window is awesome. Thanks for the video.
This was the most gourgeous and fanastic shuttle launch I've ever seen. No, really, this was beautiful. Oh, Discovery, you seem to be having some camera problems. It's a shame that the shuttle series is almost over, though...
@KLG5909 Discovery's Last flight is currently scheduled for November 1, 2010. And Endeavour's final flight is scheduled for February 26, 2011
At 3:43, awesome shock wave! Most of the time, it doesn't cross your mind at how fast this thing is at lift-off.
+jetlagsyndrome well it's actually not fast at lift off lol
LunnarisLP lmao. good point. what i meant was that part where it's already flying for about a minute or so.
2:36 GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY I was wearing headphones!! That scared the CRAP out of me!
I was there. Grateful. Spectacular exhaust through dawn.
Discovery is my favorite space shuttle and she flew incredibly at night for the last time 🥹
@Trex1094 Repair? Possibly. Depends on amount of damage, really. If the engineers on the ground feel the orbiter is more likely to disintegrate during reentry, they'll tell the orbiter to go back to the ISS and use it as a safe haven until the rescue shuttle can come get them. Called "Launch On Need" (LON), it can fly within 30 days to grab the crew. Depending on damage, the broken orbiter would be deorbited with a possibility of landing unmanned, or be destroyed (unmanned) over the Pacific.
sparklers 2:32
@skateboy159 The higher a rocket goes, the less atmosphere there is to keep the rocket's 'flame' contained in a given shape. As it goes up, the atmospheric pressure decreases and the shape of the plume gets wider
2:38 I had my volume all the way up so I could hear the roar of the engines, now I can’t hear
@Psy0psAgent Because there are 300,000 gallons of water dumped on the pad by the time the shuttle clears the tower. It absorbs the shockwaves and helps cool the pad.
100,000 ft in one minute and thirty seconds. That's just fucking mind blowing.
Great video spacevidcast !
The audio is fantastic at SSME ignition.
I was there that night with my 15-year-old son, great experience!
Awesome thanks for uploading!
@bigusmcguy Not to nitpick, just a clarification of terminology. The command and response is "go at throttle up", meaning everything is still A-OK at throttle up. Everything is still go (no problems).
@DerCooleOnkelCharlie The roll program is to reduce gravitational pressure on the shuttle and crew. This is also why they throttle back, so the pressure is 3 times gravity. Another reason is to allow communication with ground crews.
The reason they throttle back shortly after liftoff is to reduce stress on the shuttle during the area of max Q. This is the point in the launch where aerodynamic forces on the shuttle are greatest, and accelerating too hard through this zone could cause damage to the shuttle. At this point, the crew is only experiencing around 2g, slightly less through max Q, and then back up to around 2G. The only time the shuttle throttles back to reduce G forces (keeping them to max of 3G) on the CREW is during the final moments leading up to MECO, where the vehicle is lightest having burnt most of its fuel.
The cyclical noise prior to the water sound suppression system activation is actually the APU's on board the orbiter. These supply hydraulic pressure for moving the vehicle's control surfaces during flight.
The sound when the SSME's fire up is epic!
@shakenama There are three more flight. One for Discovery, one for Endeavour in February (STS-134), and one (as of now) in June for Atlantis (STS-135). There is discussion and rumors of delaying Atlantis until next September though. Too early to know for sure at this point.
I was there for the launch! it was awesome!
Beautiful video. Brings a tear to my eye. I very much like the vehicle ascent statistics overlay.
I could watch this stuff all day.
I believe there are two options. One would be to exceed the 17000 mp/h. The other (and commonly done), is to meet it coming from the direction the ISS is heading. I'm not exactly sure though. I only know that the ISS is going 17000 mph in order to stay in orbit. So logically thinking, the shuttle chasing it would have to be faster than 17000 mph in order to catch up on it.
Saw this from the astronaut hall of fame, no video can capture the rumble of those rockets or the shaking of the ground, a truly amazing sight.
Amazing!!! I wish I was in that shuttle!
I was in there as the pilot
Our family watched the launch from the family/vip seating. It was absolutely amazing to see in person.
nice that this is in HD
My favorite part is always that literally the SECOND they clear the tower, it's in Houston's hands - so so so many miles away from the launch site/launch control. The handoff always seems so seamless.
@bogellenong That was bits of ice coming off of the external tank. But what I am curious about is the flame seen on the left-side (from the camera p.o.v.) of the tower starting at 1:23?
@penfat1,
actually, if you look at the data on the left, shuttle is already traveling at 1.8Mach at this time.
@Trex1094 They had no way to confirm, and even if they did, they had no options to repair it. One Linda Ham decided that the damage wasn't bad enough to warrant further investigation after the foam impact. She was relocated from the STS program to Ares.
@stinkykyle96 That's not actually a shockwave. It's some sort of unexplainable long-range videographic phenomenon. They break the sound barrier at about T+45 seconds or so. It never takes more than that to hit mach 1 unless one of the main engines has to be throttled back or shut down early.
@mailtrap22 STS-1 was heavily damaged due to the sound suppression system not flowing enough water. The body flap on the orbiter was deflected beyond design limits. Had Young and Crippen known of all of the issues with the launch, they would have performed an RTLS.
@iweedman12 Lands in the Atlantic where they are picked up and re-used. There's a video on TH-cam with cameras on board each of the boosters so you can watch their entire trip from launch to landing in the ocean.
Every system is functioning well.. Makes you think what would happen if that was not the case.. Still amazing to watch something like this..
@spacevidcast so if there were some sort of problem there a shuttle could not return to Earth, there are ways today to re-pare them right?
@PhantomDrums917 Zaragoza is a city in Spain, where NASA have a backup base. In case of engine failure, the shuttle can fly with a single engine over the Atlantic and land on Zaragoza's base.
@puncheex Negative, gaseous oxygen is vented from the beanie cap and the engines. the GUCP (ground umbilical carrier plate) routes hydrogen away from the orbiter to the flare stack to be safely burned away.
I was there, stood right by the big clock, amazing sight and sound !!
5:44 where did it go?
Are the particles floating near the orbiter starting at around 6:20 from the flash evaporator system?
@gafalcon7 There's a difference between waist (the thing near your belly) and waste.
Absolutely beautiful. Nothing like a shuttle launch... Especially at night. Simply gorgeous (although nothing simple about it.. a true feat of science and engineering)
@ umm simply put, To balance the momentum (mass x velocity) downward of the thrust, the rocket must generate a momentum of equal magnitude but in the opposite direction (Law of conservation of momentum). This is done by the equal but opposite thrust force pushing back into the shuttle (3rd law of motion) accelerating it up.
its amazing seeing the Launch of sts-131 discovery shuttle
If they launch the shuttle before the ISS's arrival, then put the shuttle in a slightly higher orbit (which would mean the shuttle is slower than the ISS), they can allow the ISS to catch up to the shuttle. When it's close enough they'll fire the shuttle's engines until the two are moving at the same velocity. Then they'll slowly move towards each other, which is a different story altogether.
Saw this from the causeway... truly amazing. Only 3 launches left. :(
All of that weight that gets lifted off the ground is pretty amazing in itself, what sort of liquid components does the rocket thrust contain please?
Thanks.
@D3ADPiXELS Speculating here: That might just mean "no data" or an error. If you look at how the values update from top to bottom, those numbers are simply "updated" with white squares. So it's likely the data stopped being sent since they're now in space. (could be some other explanation - this is just an educated guess)
@Kinneballer36 Ares as we know it has been canceled. The next design will be considerably more Shuttle Derived.
I just love rockets! The shuttle is certainly a classic. Pity it is going away soon.
@Sportsboii751000
Just to point out one thing, things that create thrust don't really have escape velocity, since they can escape Earth 1 mph if they want. The escape velocity is for projectiles, like satellites.
Oh, the power of all this, just inconceivable.
LSBonnPower so how they get there ? Do they travel over 17000 mph ?
at 10:28 why did they coverd the readings on the altitude ,mach and range(sm) ?? then suddenly the g-force drop to 0 ????
Beautiful. Awesome machine.
2:38 rip headphone
@jizzmonger the windup is the solid rocket booster's apu units starting up.
I wish I could've witnessed a space shuttle launch!
Watched Atlantis during a night time launch and while this doesn’t give the full effect it’s literally like somebody has turned the lights on in the surrounding area, albeit for just 15 seconds or so. Quite amazing
Are those figures (mach no and g force) relative to ground air pressure and gravity or the local pressure and gravity?
what is the stuff spraying out of the engines about 1minute before the launch, is it water?
7.15 to end, what is that at the base of the shuttle, looks like a ring of flames or did ET drop in for a look???
Specialy if it's coming out of the pdf on the orojectures
what is that green thing that starts to appear before minute 10?
@habz11
So you're saying you have 170 NOS stickers attached to it?