Review of the Space Shuttle

Program

Karol “Bo” Bobko SEMWO’11

November 17, 2011

Shuttle Planning

• Planning for the Space Shuttle began before the Apollo Program was completed.

• The consensus was to develop an infrastructure in low earth orbit (LEO)

consisting of a space station and an inexpensive, easy and efficient way to get to and from LEO.

• NASA didn’t believe that they had the resources to build both the Shuttle

and the Space Station at the same time so the Shuttle was chosen as the first project: – The Space Station probably required a shuttle for construction – The Space Shuttle could do other things such as launch satellites

Early Space Shuttle Designs

• Early designs were for a completely reusable shuttle. • The first stage generally was a booster that flew back to the launch site. • That proved to be complex and expensive. • The option chosen had the two ocean recoverable solids as the first stage and the throw-away tank.

President Nixon Announces the Space Shuttle Program on January 5, 1972

• Contract for construction of the shuttle Orbiter was awarded August 9, 1972. • First main engine test – October 17, 1975. • Rollout of the orbiter Enterprise – September 17, 1975. • Two minute firing of the Solid Rocket Booster – July 18, 1976. • Approach and Landing Test first free flight – August 12, 1976. • Columbia launch – April 12, 1981.

Approach and Landing Tests

• The Approach and Landing Tests were conducted between February and October 1977 at Edwards AFB in California

– The Shuttle was built at Palmdale and transported overland to Edwards – The Shuttle was missing some systems that would be required to support a crew on a

space flight

• There were three phases to the tests: – Taxi tests – Captive tests – where the Shuttle stayed on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

• Captive inert tests where the Shuttle was unpowered • Captive active tests where the Shuttle was powered up • Captive active tests were practice flights for the free flights

– Free Flights – where the Shuttle flew off the back of the SCA • Tailcone on flights - Shuttle had a better glide ratio and less turbulence • Tailcone off flights - approximated the landing trajectory of an operational orbiter

ALT Free Flight

ALT Landing

New Technologies

• There were a number of new technologies that were developed to allow the Space Shuttle to accomplish its mission

– Reusable, high performance main engines – Reusable thermal protection system – Fully integrated avionics and flight control system

Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME)

First flight April 12, 1981 Manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

• Liquid-fueled engine Propellant LOX /Liquid Hydrogen • Cycle Staged combustion • Nozzle area ratio 77 • Performance • Thrust (Vac.) 2.1834 MN at 104.5% of

design thrust • Thrust (SL) 1.8 MN • Chamber pressure 18.94 MPa at

100% power • Isp (Vac.) 452.5 seconds • Isp (SL) 363 seconds

Shuttle Engine Start

Tile types • High-temperature reusable surface insulation (HRSI) • Fibrous Refractory Composite Insulation Tiles (FRCI) • Toughened unipiece fibrous insulation (TUFI) • Low-temperature reusable surface insulation (LRSI)

Non-tile TPS • Flexible Insulation Blankets (FIB) • Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) • Nomex Felt Reusable Surface Insulation (FRSI) • Gap fillers

Shuttle Thermal Protection System

HRSI Space Shuttle Tiles

• Composed of high purity silica fibers

• 20,548 of these tiles mainly on the underside of the Orbiter

• Normally 15 X 15 cm • Thickness 2.5 to 13 cm

depending on heat • ~ 140kg/m3 • Black coating is

Reaction Cured Glass • Protects to 1260 C

Shuttle Avionics

• One of the leading edge technologies for its day. • The Space Shuttle was completely digital fly-by-wire for all of the flight

phases. • Most of the avionics were typically redundant to allow fail-ops / fail safe

operation. That meant that with one failure the system was still operational and with two failures it was safe.

• Fail-ops / fail safe required a sophisticated failure detection and reconfiguration system.

• The next slide will show a view of the cockpit. Remember this is a rocket, a space craft and an aircraft.

• To verify the operation of the avionics a Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) was constructed.

Shuttle Cockpit

Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) • SAIL enables Orbiter hardware and flight software to be integrated and tested in a simulated flight environment. • The testing process is extensive and rigorous; the software on the Shuttle is often considered to be among the most bug-free of operational systems. • The laboratory contains a complete avionics mock-up of a Shuttle. • The electronics are identical in position and type to those used on the Shuttle.

Space Shuttle Features

• Largely reusable • Large cargo capacity (both volume and weight) • Airlock • Crew of seven (eight before the bail-out modifications) • Robotic arm • Approximately two weeks on orbit stay • Ability to support payloads (electrical power, data, cooling) • Return significant weight back to earth • Large cross range

Space Shuttle Training

• NASA used a range of training techniques and training devices from books and lectures to sophisticated simulators.

• A new astronaut is called an Astronaut Candidate or Ascan. • They go through a broad training course for about a year. • After that they are assigned technical duties. • During the Shuttle Program the astronauts were assigned to a crew about

a year before launch. – During that time they work to develop the skills that will be needed for their

flight. • About six months before flight they are relieved of other duties and focus

on their flight. • The Shuttle is a very complicated device that takes a lot of study and

training.

Shuttle Training Aircraft

• Modified Gulfstream • Shown here during a practice shuttle approach • Note the main gear down to produce drag • The nose gear is not stressed to be down at this speed • Accurate simulation down to the pilot’s eye height during landing • Doesn’t actually land during a simulated shuttle landing

Shuttle Mission Simulator

• Actually two simulators • Motion base – has only the front cockpit • Fixed base – has the entire crew compartment

• Primary simulator for integrated crew training • Telemetry is sent to Mission Control Center (MCC) for integrated training with the MCC • Crews spent hundreds of hours in this simulator

Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

It is 202 ft in length, 102 ft in width, and 40 ft in depth (20 ft above ground level and 20 ft below) and holds 6.2 million gallons of water.

Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

• Crews practice underwater to try and simulate zero gravity. • Used to develop procedures and allow astronauts to become familiar with the environment.

Space Vehicle Mockup Facility

• Provide the capability to develop procedures and train outside of the simulation facilities. • Visible are the :

• Full Fuselage Trainer • Crew Compartment Trainer • Crew Compartment Trainer II. This mockup can be positioned in 7 orientations:

• Launch (nose up) • Runway • Nose down • Side hatch up • Side hatch down • Horizontal • Landing

Vertical Motion Simulator

• The VMS supplements the Shuttle Training Aircraft and the Shuttle Mission Simulator. • The Shuttle Training Aircraft does not actually land and the Shuttle Mission simulator has very limited motion. • The VMS provides shuttle approach and landing training, with good motion, all the way through roll-out to a stop.

Assembling the Shuttle for Launch

• The major parts of the Space Shuttle are brought to the Kennedy Space Center and assembled on the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP)in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

The shuttle stack is assembled on the Mobile Launch Platform and transported to the launch pad on the Crawler/ Transporter.

Mobile Launch Platform and Crawler

Vehicle Assembly Building Assembly of the stack is accomplished in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).

SRB Recovery Ship – Freedom Star

Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) The first element of the Shuttle stack is the SRB. These are brought by rail from Utah where they have been refurbished.

Solid Rocket Booster

• Segments of the SRB being joined together. • When assembled each SRB weighs 1,300,000 pounds. • Thrust at liftoff is 2,650,000 pounds.

External Tank • The External Tank is transported from Mississippi to the launch site on a barge which travels on the Intercoastal Waterway. • The External Tank holds 500,000 gallons of fuel and oxydizer.

The Orbiter is maintained and readied for the flight in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF).

Orbiter

Orbiter in the VAB In the VAB a sling is attached to the Orbiter so it can be lifted, rotated and attached to the External Tank on the MLP.

Orbiter Lifted onto the External Tank

• The Orbiter is carefully lifted and joined to the external Tank. • The orbiter will weigh about 250,000 pounds.

Shuttle in the VAB on the MLP

Shuttle Being Transported to the Launch Pad

• Crawler transporter has a max speed of 1.6 km/hr. • Takes about 5 hours to get to the pad. • Crawler transporter weighs 2.721 million kg. • The Shuttle and MLP weigh 6.22 million kg. • Fuel consumption is about 350 liters per kilometer.

Space Shuttle on the Launch Pad The left part of the structure contains the Payload Change-out Room (PCR) which can be rotated to fit next to the Shuttle and allow access to the Shuttle payload bay.

• There is access to the payload bay when the Shuttle is on the launch pad. • A room fits against the Shuttle to allow the Shuttle payload bay doors to be opened and have sheltered access to the payload bay. • This picture is from inside the PCR and shows the Shuttle payload bay with the starboard payload bay door open.

Payload Change-out Room (PCR)

Space Shuttle Ready for Launch

Mission Control Center (MCC)

The Shuttle Carried Many Payloads

• The Space Shuttle carried many payloads into orbit including: – Earth satellites (Hubble, Gamma Ray, Chandra X-Ray) – Deep space probes (Magellan/Venus, Galileo/Jupiter, Ulysses/Sun Polar) – Experiment laboratories (Spacelab and Spacehab) – Space Station elements (27 flights) – Space Station logistics (9 Spacehab and 11 MPLM missions) – Experiments – Rendezvous (10 ) and docking (9) missions with Russian Space Station Mir – Repair missions (5 Hubble repair missions plus two others) – Communication satellites (6 TDRS among many others)

• In addition to the primary payloads there were also numerous smaller secondary payloads

Satellites Launch from Shuttle

• Before the Challenger accident the Shuttle launched numerous satellites. • This picture is of the first Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) launched from STS 6. • After the accident satellites were put on unmanned vehicles.

Spacelab in the Cargo Bay

• The first Spacelab was built by the European Space Agency in exchange for flight opportunities. • This picture was taken on the first Spacelab flight – STS 9. • The Spacelab is in the Shuttle payload bay with the doors open. • The connecting tunnel from the Shuttle cockpit to the Spacelab can be seen at the bottom of the picture.

Interior of the Spacelab Module

• Major Spacelab components were flown on 25 Shuttle flights.

Space Shuttle Approaching the ISS with a Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM).

37 Shuttle flights have docked with the ISS

Hubble Space Telescope Repair

• There have been five servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope. • These missions have replaced and repaired components of the telescope.

Shuttle Landing

Space Shuttle Statistics

• 5 space worthy orbiters: – Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour

• 135 flights into space • More than 500,000,000 miles in space (more than 21,000 orbits) • 852 total crew (355 individual fliers) • 3,513,638 pounds of cargo launched into orbit • Heaviest spacecraft deployed - 25 Tons (Chandra X-Ray Observatory) • Longest Mission - 17 days, 15 hours, 13 minutes, 18 seconds