Space Shuttle – A Vehicle for Extraterrestrial Journey

The term “Space Shuttle” can be used in different contexts, from the human spaceflight program of NASA to the generic term standing for any shuttle that goes in space. Of course it is a different issue that “any” shuttle cannot go in space but they are specialized vehicles built after immense research which are capable of undertaking the most arduous and equally adventurous journey that man has ever known – going into space, not in flights of fancy but in flights in a space shuttle.

Before we delve deeper into the space shuttle and its description, the very first question that arises in

my mind is – if you are interested in going in space, what do you intend to do up there? Well, I just want to take ride, is a very selfish answer because you cannot utilize so many resources and expertise simply to take a joyride (I doubt even if Mr Gates would be interested in doing that) but certainly there is one and only one objective of undertaking such huge projects – Knowledge.

The knowledge I am talking is the knowledge about space, the phenomenon that occur in space, the celestial bodies, their behaviour and lots of other information. Most of these studies can be done more accurately if observations are taking from close quarters. Just remember that we are talking on an astronomical scale here, so the “close quarters” referred to here could be a few thousand to few million miles easily.

Unfortunately there is not a DIY guide for building a space shuttle or a Space Shuttle for Dummies version (otherwise I would be the first one to purchase it). A space shuttle is a well designed, carefully crafted piece of engineering which is partially reusable and used to carry human beings as well as cargo into space. Just remember that when we talk about cargo in space we are not referring to any commercial goods meant for business exchange with aliens but mostly the cargo consists of sophisticated research equipment and related paraphernalia.

NASA, the pioneer agency in space research is having a programme by the name of Space Shuttle program also known popularly as Space Transportation System or STS for short. It consists of an orbiter which can carry up to eight astronauts (we do not use the word passengers here for they are highly specialized and skilled people) in space

The first attempts to seriously explore space and try to solve problems associated with problems encountered during flight both in the atmosphere and the outside space were officially started as far back as 1958 with the passing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act, 1958 which resulted in the formation of the Space Task Group. In 1961 President J.F. Kennedy made a historic speech in which he said that “Humans would land on the moon and return safely to Earth before the end of the decade”. This seemed impossible even to NASA engineers at that time but we know it as true today.

Here is some data which might be of interest to you regarding a typical space shuttle

Projected Lifespan – 100 launches

Projected Lifespan in years – One decade

digg

del.icio.us

StumbleUpon

reddit