Space Shuttle Experiment

Rockwell, the shuttle’s primary contractor, did not support the launch due to the possibility of ice leaving the structure and damaging the thermal shield tiles during takeoff. Their concerns were relayed to NASA, but in such a way that NASA chose to proceed with the launch [2]. Though this was eventually determined to be a non-issue in the Challenger launch, the true nature of the problems that can occur when an object strikes the shuttle during takeoff would not be learned until 2003, when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry due to damage of a heat shield tile that occurred during takeoff [2]--[3].

The case study of the two shuttle disasters, the Challenger occurred on January 28th 1986, and the Columbia occurred on February 1st, 2003. Both majestic and yet mournful due to the loss of life on both mission. The Challenger shuttle flight, OV-099 mission STS-51-L, broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of all crew members which included five astronauts and two payload specialists. The Challenger disaster was especially traumatic because young students watched television that were placed in their classrooms so they could watch the launch that day. It was fascinating that a school teacher was on-board as a payload specialist (NASA, 1986.) With a school teacher aboard the flight, it had sparked many interests because at several at young age, understood that education was vital as to why there was such a failure and prevent future disasters.

On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins began their journey towards the moon’s surface in the Apollo 11 operation. By July 19, the men entered the lunar orbit. July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin descended towards the moon on the lunar module, the Eagle, while Collins remained in the command module (“The Space Race”). On this day, Armstrong “became the first man to walk on the moon’s surface; he famously called the moment ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’” (“The Space Race”). After docking and rejoining Collins, Apollo 11 successfully returned home. Russia was unable to match this feat, as they failed four lunar landing attempts between the years 1969 and 1972 (“The Space Race”). The U.S. had officially won the space race.

Should we be funding exploration of the depths of space when our very own planet hasn't been explored to the fullest? Should we being inhabiting the solar system and potentially harming it knowing how poorly we've taken care of Earth? "We are the only earthly creatures with the capacity to extend our influence beyond the 4 corners of the globe." so what should we do with this power? (Source E) Funds and ethics should be big factors when considering space exploration, but they're not big enough.

Humans obsess over the exploration of the unknown. The majority of our vast solar system remains unexplored. Most humans don’t have an idea what could be waiting for us outside of our atmosphere. Nonetheless, space exploration is not necessary unless our world is either perfect or destroyed. There is no need to throw away billions of dollars on space exploration missions when there are other necessities that need to be sought to first.

Space exploration is an ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial structures in outer space. There is an ongoing debate wheter or america should invest in space exploration, but many may argue its just a waste of time and money. Good oppotunites and benefits are highly possible to happen due to space exploration. There are many interesting and benificial things such as finding another presence, facts about how mars became i dried freezing dessert, and solving the fianl mysteries.

“Live and learn”: a classic saying that applies to everyone and everything. Sometimes people mess up on small things but, other times one flaw could lead to a huge mistake that people must learn from. NASA’s Challenger was no exception to this saying. Many lives were lost on the space shuttle including a teacher from Concord. However, this tragedy holds a story worth being told.

“Houston we have a problem.” sounds familiar? Well the person answering that call was actually in The command module. The command module was the name of the command center for the Apollo 11 space mission. How do they communicate with each other from so far away? Infrared lasers are sent down to a communication center on earth and the files are downloaded. This new method is quicker, more efficient, and less expensive than radio waves. Controlling anything can be hard, but try controlling a space shuttle that’s deep in space. Controlling it proved to be tougher than expected, Nasa’s solution was Remote Bot. “Remote Bot” kept the spaceship on course and monitored its health while warning it of upcoming asteroids and other dangerous objects

Unfortunately, the United States' space program suffered a major setback following the tragic failure during testing on January 27, 1967. This failure proved fatal when three astronauts were killed during a fire in a command module on the ground. These first casualties of the space program shocked the American public. The testing failure was blamed on NASA by both Congress and the media. The widely presented cause was “inadequate engineering” and the public believed that NASA was emphasizing being first to the moon over the safety of the program. Nevertheless, the astronauts that were killed were hailed as heroes and honored for their ultimate sacrifice (Engdahl 182). The three astronauts chosen to operate the fatal Apollo-based AS-204 test

The Cold War was a turning point in both technological advancements and education in the hard sciences. Because of the Cold War, it formed several competitions, including the Nuclear Arms race and the Space Race. The United States continued their space passion by opening the space shuttle program in January of 1972, twenty-five years after the Cold War began. During the space shuttle programs, NASA sent over 600 astronauts to space, along with numerous other satellites. NASA’s space shuttles consisted of mainly three components which included the two 185,000 pound rocket boosters, orbiter, and the 78,100 pound external tank. Within the external tank were the shuttle’s propellants, which was mainly consisted of liquid hydrogen fuel and oxygen

In March, 1970, President Richard Milhous Nixon “opted for the shuttle-tended space base as a long-range goal but deferred going ahead with the space station pending development of the shuttle vehicle” (NASA,1986). Thus the Space Shuttle, which was considered as merely the transport element of a broad earlier, was reused and became the concentration of NASA's near- term future. Challenger, as NASA’s second orbiter which was put into service after Columbia in Space Shuttle program, began its maiden flight on April 4th, 1983. It made nine flights in total prior to 1986. Owing to payload changes, cold weather, and other technical problems, Challenger was rescheduled continually and finally determined to launch from

On 1st of February, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after finished a 16 days mission in space. All seven astronauts were dead because of this incident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had stopped the space shuttle program for more than two years to investigate this tragedy. In the 16 days period, the astronauts did approximately 80 experiments on different categories, for example, life science and material science [1]. An investigation later has found out that the disaster was caused by a problem on the day that took off on 16th of January.

It’s very clear that NASA ignored the group thinking avoidance techniques. The launch was the number one priority for the organization, and that is where all of its efforts were channeled. They made the decision to execute the launch early in their planning process, which minimized all of the variables and factors that present themselves within the hours leading to the actual execution. The advances in technology have been able to mitigate many issues, but you can’t ignore the effect of weather on the components of the shuttle. The experts brought up the concerns, but they were deliberately marginalized by the leadership. When I think of a seal, I immediately think of a $0.25 piece of rubber.

My thoughts on the book were that it was slow at first when Wolfe was explaining the rules of the pilot’s wives. It got much more interesting once the pilots volunteered to be astronauts. I feel that the book was about the men struggling to be the best and wanting the most money. They also seemed that they wanted to get the girls. They book portrayed the guys being conceited and all about the money and prestige rather than actually wanting to be America’s true heroes. It seems like they were doing it themselves and not for the country.

The launch of the space shuttle Endeavour follows Isaac Newton’s Law of Motion. Newton made three theories about gravitation that was publish in 1687. Newton used this law to explain the motion in object. We could use these three laws to explain how we will able to launch Endeavour into space.