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Space Shuttle Information
- Space Shuttle Program
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- Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral
- How Fast Is A Space Shuttle
- Speed of The Space Shuttle
- Space Shuttle Launch Viewing
How Fast Is A Space Shuttle
The space shuttle is one of the fastest traveling vehicles in the world, traveling at speeds that are impossible while inside the Earth's atmosphere. Imagine you are in a car and you are going to travel on a new highway that was built all the way around the Earth at the equator. If you were traveling in a normal car at 60 miles an hour, it would take you approximately 400 hours if you didn't have to stop for gas, food, drink, or bathroom breaks. If you were able to travel the speed of the space shuttle, then it would only take you about 1 hour and 20 minutes. At that speed, the sun would set in the east for the passengers. That is how fast 17500 miles an hour is.
Space Shuttle Speed
The reason that the space shuttle is so fast is because it is in orbit around the Earth. There is only microgravity, so there is very little friction to slow it down. If you were to put a normal car in space and somehow give it's tires traction without providing friction for the car, the car would be able to multiply it's top speed due to the lack of friction. The space shuttle uses rocket thrusters that do not require the use of friction to create speed, so it is able to get up to speed easily. With no friction to slow it down, it then only has to use small amounts of thrust to keep it on course, change direction, or to put it on a reentry course.
Future Space Travel Prospects
There is an X Prize committee that makes different competitions based on the future of space travel. A recent challenge was the Lunar Lander challenge, where a vehicle had to fly for 180 seconds then land in a specified location, then take off again and land in the exact location it started from. No one has yet won the prize as of the writing of this article, but someone will probably soon make a shuttle that can complete the task.
Space Shuttle Speed
The reason that the space shuttle is so fast is because it is in orbit around the Earth. There is only microgravity, so there is very little friction to slow it down. If you were to put a normal car in space and somehow give it's tires traction without providing friction for the car, the car would be able to multiply it's top speed due to the lack of friction. The space shuttle uses rocket thrusters that do not require the use of friction to create speed, so it is able to get up to speed easily. With no friction to slow it down, it then only has to use small amounts of thrust to keep it on course, change direction, or to put it on a reentry course.
Future Space Travel Prospects
There is an X Prize committee that makes different competitions based on the future of space travel. A recent challenge was the Lunar Lander challenge, where a vehicle had to fly for 180 seconds then land in a specified location, then take off again and land in the exact location it started from. No one has yet won the prize as of the writing of this article, but someone will probably soon make a shuttle that can complete the task.