1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and love all things tech. So listener 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: Limb asked that I do an episode about the Space Shuttle, 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: and little did lim know what journey that would set 7 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: me upon. It sent me to create that huge block 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: of shows about space travel and spacecraft, and it actually 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: has me thinking about pitching a series to my bosses 10 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: about kind of a more in depth exploration of the 11 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: stories behind the various space programs out there, going into 12 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: more detailed because even though I've done multiple episodes, I've 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: really only scratched the surface of the stories. So if 14 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: you would like to hear a mini series, you know, 15 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: not a ongoing podcast, but maybe a mini series episode 16 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: or a series of episodes all about the space race 17 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: and the development of spacecraft and launch vehicles and that 18 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,479 Speaker 1: sort of stuff. Let me know. There's no guarantee I'll 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: get it greenlit, but if you guys have an interest 20 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: in something like that, I can certainly pitch it, particularly 21 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: if it means I might get to go do stuff 22 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: like take parabolic flights to experience micro gravity, or or 23 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: to talk with astronauts and engineers and technicians and rockets scientists. 24 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: I would love to do all of that, but I'm 25 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: not gonna continue doing that on this show. That would 26 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: be excessive. And there's so much more tech than just 27 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: the space program, obviously, So we're going to conclude this 28 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,679 Speaker 1: power block of space material with a discussion about the 29 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: space shuttle program. The Apollo Soyo's mission that happened in 30 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: nine was the last we put people up into space 31 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: until and that's when the first space shuttle flight took place. 32 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: But just like there was overlap between Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, 33 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: the space shuttle program actually overlapped with other space efforts. 34 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: It wasn't like the Apollo Sayer's mission ended and then 35 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: everyone said, well that was fun, Let's go make a 36 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: space shuttle. For one thing, Richard Nixon announced that NASA 37 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: was working on what would become the space shut program 38 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: way back in nineteen seventy two. But you could actually 39 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: argue the history of the space shuttle program goes back 40 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: way before the Space race. That means to look at 41 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: the origin of the space shuttle, we once again have 42 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,119 Speaker 1: to look at World War Two. So much of what 43 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: came out of the space race, the space age really 44 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: got started in World War Two. One of the projects 45 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: that the Nazis pursued during World War two was the 46 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: design of an aircraft that could take off from Germany 47 00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: and fly all the way to the United States with 48 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: the intent of dropping a bomb on US cities. One guy, 49 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: an engineer named Eugen Sunger, submitted a proposal for an 50 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: aircraft that he called the Silver Vocal or Silver Bird. 51 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: The aircraft was essentially a rocket with wings, and it 52 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,839 Speaker 1: was meant to take off to fly to a suborbital 53 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: altitude but above the Karmen line, so it's technically in space, 54 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: it just wasn't in orbit. And then it would begin 55 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: its descent and as it would descend and re enter 56 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: the Earth's atmosphere, it would encounter increased air density and 57 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: that would provide lift, enough lift for the aircraft to 58 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: fly up in another arc. And so you would go 59 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: from Germany to the United States across the Atlantic Ocean 60 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: in a series of arcs, sort of like bouncing on 61 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: the way over. You fly up into that orbital altitude, 62 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: start to come down, hit the dead ser air use 63 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: that to bank off of and go back up again 64 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: and continue your flight that way. Now, it never got built, 65 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: but the designs were part of the research that Americans 66 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: seized as part of Operation paper Clip. And again that 67 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: was when the United States grabbed up a bunch of 68 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: scientific assets from Germany, including scientists, and brought them back 69 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: to the United States. Sunger's concepts would become one of 70 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: the inspirations for the design of the Space Shuttle. And 71 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: while some engineers were working on rockets designed to either 72 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: put stuff into orbit or more violently, served as a 73 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: delivery system for a nuclear weapon, others were developing rocket planes. 74 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: These aircraft would travel faster than any previous air vehicles, 75 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: and one such rocket plane, the Bell X one, was 76 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: the first vehicle to break the sound barrier when Charles E. 77 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: Chuck Yeager made history on October fourteenth, nineteen. The X 78 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: one was just the first in a series of rocket planes. 79 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: One of them, one of the really famous ones, was 80 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: the hypersonic X fifteen. In the nineteen sixties, while the 81 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: Mercury and Gemini missions were going on, the X fifteen 82 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: rocket plane was smashing records for both altitude and speed. 83 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: Those rocket planes became important testing grounds and brought back 84 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: valuable data for engineers who were interested in creating a 85 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 1: spacecraft that could return to Earth by flying back through 86 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: the atmosphere instead of plummeting to Earth and deploying a parachute, 87 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: or maybe plummeting the Earth, deploying a parachute and firing 88 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: off a last second breaking booster. Those were spacecraft that 89 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: fell into a category that generally speaking, we could call 90 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: lifting body vehicles, meaning they were required some sort of 91 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,039 Speaker 1: launch vehicle to lift them into outer space, and then, 92 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,039 Speaker 1: like ballistics, they would return to Earth on re entry. 93 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: So they might have limited capabilities in orienting themselves properly 94 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: for re entry, but they wouldn't fly under their own 95 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: power and land at a designated landing space. They would 96 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: come in like like a falling rock and deployed parachutes 97 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: and maybe a breaking thruster, depending upon whether it was 98 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: the U S or the Soviet versions. It was around 99 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: this time that NASA and the Air Force decided that 100 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: the edge of space was actually about eighty and a 101 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: half kilometers above mean sea level, or fifty miles. Because, 102 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: of course, the US always likes to measure things in 103 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: a way different from everybody else. That puts the edge 104 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: of space a little lower by US measurements than the 105 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: international standard, because the international standard is the CARM online, 106 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: which is at one kilometers above mean sea level. And 107 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: it also means that any pilot who flew an aircraft 108 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: that went above fifty miles altitude would receive the honor 109 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: of being able to wear astronaut wings. So eight different 110 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: fifteen pilots earned their astronaut wings in that way. By 111 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, the US Air Force started work on 112 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: a new vehicle called the X twenty, also sometimes called 113 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: the Dina Sore Sore spelled s o A r Hardy 114 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: har Harror, and it was in many ways similar in 115 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: design to the later Space Shuttle, and if it had 116 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: been built, the Air Force would have used it to 117 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: do stuff like satellite maintenance. The operation got as far 118 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: as some early construction, but it was ultimately canceled, so 119 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: no X twenties were ever finished. The idea of a 120 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: space plane or a reusable vehicle fit into a general 121 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: series of steps that the engineer Werner von Braun had recommended. 122 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: Von Braun was one of the German engineers who had 123 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: been brought over to the US as part of Operation 124 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: paper Clip. Though the steps towards establishing a permanent presence 125 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: in space said this is this is how they should work. 126 00:07:58,240 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: According to von Broun, he said, this is this is 127 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: the way we should go about this. First, we've got 128 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: to figure out how to put a person into space. 129 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: That's our first step. Second step is to figure out 130 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: the design for a reusable spacecraft, because that's going to 131 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: bring down the expense and the time it takes to 132 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: get someone into space. Now, you have probably heard various 133 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: essiments about how much money it takes to put a 134 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: certain amount of stuff into space. Like a common one 135 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: I hear is it costs ten thou dollars to put 136 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: one pound of stuff up into space. But really it's 137 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: way more complicated than that because it all depends upon 138 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: multiple factors. So those factors include like which launch vehicle 139 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: are you using and where in space are you going. 140 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: Different launch vehicles use different types of fuel and that 141 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: can cost different amounts. Also different amounts of fuel that 142 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: also also will impact the cost of launch. They also 143 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: have different payload capabilities, So if you pick a rocket 144 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: that can carry more stuff, then it may mean that 145 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: overall it costs less per unit of mass to send 146 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: that stuff up there because you're able to send more 147 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: up at once, and most launch vehicles are one use only, 148 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,559 Speaker 1: so you have to build a whole new launch vehicle 149 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: every time you want to go up in space. So 150 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: if you wanted to send material up on say the 151 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: Atlas five rocket, that would cost you about twenty thousand 152 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: two d per kilogram of stuff, and that's if you 153 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: wanted to send it into lower th orbit. But if 154 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 1: you wanted to use the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from SpaceX, 155 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: then it would cost more like one thousand, seven hundred 156 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: dollars per kilogram, And that's for several reasons. One is 157 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: that the Falcon Heavy has reusable components. Not the whole thing, 158 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: but parts of it are reusable. That helps cut down 159 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: some costs. And it has an incredible carrying capacity, so 160 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: it can carry more stuff up. So the more stuff 161 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: you carry, the more you have to divide that cost 162 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: up by right, And so that's why the Falcon Heavy 163 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: is relatively inexpensive when you compare it against other launch vehicles. 164 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: When you're looking at, you know, the cost of kilogram 165 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: to put it in lower th orbit. The further out 166 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:17,559 Speaker 1: you want to go. However, the more expensive it will 167 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: be because if you want the Falcon heavy to send 168 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: stuff to say Mars, well it can't carry as much. 169 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: It needs more of its fuel just to propel the 170 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: spacecraft towards Mars. So then you start seeing the cost 171 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: go up because you have you can only pack so 172 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: much stuff onto the launch vehicle before you have exceeded 173 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: the carrying capacity for that destination. So, like I said, 174 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: it's a little more complicated than just ten thousand dollars 175 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: per pound. Uh. After reusable spacecraft, von Brown envisioned building 176 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: a space station in orbit to act as a base 177 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: from which you could then launch expedittions too places like 178 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: the Moon or Mars. And in fact, that was the 179 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: plan that engineers had in the nineteen fifties. They said, 180 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna build a 181 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: reusable spacecraft. It's going to be kind of a rocket plane. 182 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: We're going to use this to construct a space station 183 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: out in orbit, and from there we're going to launch 184 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 1: missions to places like the Moon. And then in nineteen 185 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: fifty seven, the Soviets launched spot Nick into orbit, and 186 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: that messed everything up. So the original plan of working 187 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:36,599 Speaker 1: on this sort of gradual development toward building a reusable 188 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,560 Speaker 1: spacecraft in the space station meant that it was just 189 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: not going to be acceptable. There was now a very 190 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: tighter deadline because the United States and the Soviet Union 191 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: were now in a space race to prove that each 192 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: country had the technological and military superiority over the other one. 193 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: Because if you could put something in orbit, it means 194 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: you could also potentially put a missile at the other 195 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: country on the other side of the world. You could 196 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: make it impact the other country. So there was a 197 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: very strong political and military urgency behind the development of 198 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,719 Speaker 1: the space race, and the use of a reusable spacecraft 199 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: in a in a space station didn't really fit into 200 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 1: that narrative. It was going to take too long. So 201 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: that's why they looked at the more simple approach of 202 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: these liftoff vehicles that would have the ballistic re entry 203 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: strategy instead of that gliding technology like a space plane. 204 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: And you know, Kennedy had declared in nineteen sixty one 205 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: that America was gonna put a man on the Moon 206 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: and bring that man back before the end of the decade, 207 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,319 Speaker 1: so they had to skip that whole reusable spacecraft in 208 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: space station part of the plan and go straight to 209 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: how do we get to the Moon and back without 210 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: this space station mid step, So the focus switched to 211 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: the liftoff carrier programs. But engineers had not yet given 212 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: up hope on a reusable spacecraft. They still had some 213 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 1: pretty big plans, which I will tell you about in 214 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 1: just a second, but first let's take a quick break 215 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. The early version of those plans 216 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,839 Speaker 1: that I mentioned before the break didn't involve a Space 217 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:29,439 Speaker 1: Shuttle attached to an enormous pair of solid fuel booster 218 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: rockets like the Space Shuttle ultimately had. Instead, the original 219 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: space Shuttle design would consist of a two stage vehicle, 220 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: and each stage of the vehicle had its own pilot crew. 221 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 1: So the first stage was a large hypersonic aircraft and 222 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: it would carry the smaller Shuttle orbiter on its back 223 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 1: piggyback style. So the concept we had the hypersonic plane 224 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: achieve an altitude of at least fifty thousand feet and 225 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: travel at incredible speeds before the second stage would launch 226 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: off of the back of the first stage and then 227 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: ignite its engines and take the orbiter the rest of 228 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,679 Speaker 1: the way out into space. The first stage would then 229 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: return to Earth and land just like a normal plane would, 230 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 1: and it would be completely reusable, and the orbiter, once 231 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: it had concluded its mission, would re enter the Earth's 232 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: atmosphere and likewise return to Earth. Which sounds like a 233 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: supremely cool idea. You would have these re usable components. 234 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: They would obviously need to be you know, refurbished after 235 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: every single mission, but you would get to use them 236 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,119 Speaker 1: over and over again. It was a brilliant and elegant 237 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 1: kind of approach, and there have been many proposed spacecraft 238 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: designs that have followed in this model. The design was 239 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: also uh to address one of the big challenges that 240 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 1: NASA faced, which was that a winged vehicle made sense right. 241 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: They wanted a winged vehicle where you could have a 242 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: controlled glide back to Earth, where you could glide to 243 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: a predetermined landing spot, a very precise landing spot, not 244 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: just a general area where you're going to splash down 245 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 1: in the ocean. But wings on a spacecraft are a 246 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: big challenge. They're a critical part of the vehicle design. 247 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: But whatever you make them out of has to be 248 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: really really sturdy stuff, and the forces of re entry 249 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: are incredible. That's intense pressure and heat, So conventional wings 250 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: would be really difficult to build in such way that 251 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: they would be reliable. The fear was that if you 252 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: made conventional wings like wings attached to a fuselage, they 253 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: would just rip off or or at least be so 254 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: damaged as to be inoperable upon re entry. The solution 255 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: was to design the body of the shuttle in such 256 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: a way that the body is kind of molded so 257 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: that the wings kind of mold out from the body, 258 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: and the shuttle has what is called a double delta 259 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: wing configuration. So a delta wing is a wing that's 260 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: in the form of a triangle. It's triangular in shape, 261 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: and it's called delta because it resembles the Greek letter delta, 262 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: which is a little triangular shape. A double delta wing 263 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: has a leading edge wing like the the edge that's 264 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: closest to the front of the aircraft isn't straight on 265 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: a double delta wing. So with the case of the 266 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: Space Shuttle, it's got a slight curve to it. If 267 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: you look at a picture of a space shutter, you'll 268 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: see what I'm saying. It's not just a uh, it's 269 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: not just a flat line that extends out from the 270 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 1: sides of the Space Shuttle. At the rear edge of 271 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,360 Speaker 1: the wings, the backside of the wings, there are special 272 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: control surfaces called elevants, and these are sections that are 273 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: kind of like flaps, and they could change their orientation 274 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: to affect the shuttles pitch, which is what an elevator 275 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: does on a traditional airplane, not the kind of elevator 276 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: you get in in a building, but an airplane. Elevator 277 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: is typically a part of the horizontal stabilizer on the 278 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: ill section of an airplane, and you can adjust that 279 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,919 Speaker 1: to adjust the airplane's pitch. This was built into the 280 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: wings of the Space Shuttle, but it also could work 281 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: not just as an elevator, but as an aileron. And 282 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: ailerons are used to affect the role motion of an aircraft. 283 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: So the role is you know, pitches is up or down, 284 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,879 Speaker 1: nose up or nose down. Role is leaning left or 285 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,160 Speaker 1: leaning right essentially, and then the yaw, which is sort 286 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: of the turning left or turning right, not leaning but turning. 287 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: The yaw of the shuttle would be controlled using a rudder, 288 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: and that was part of the tail fin in the 289 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: back the rudder was actually a split rudder, and it 290 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: could act as a speed brake. It's called a split 291 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: rudder because it has a left half and a right half. 292 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: If you were looking at the rudder from behind, you 293 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 1: would see that there's a vertical line splitting right down 294 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: the center of this rudder, and it could split apart 295 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: and open kind of like a book like just imagine 296 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: a book opening its covers. And it would do this 297 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: on landing in order to act as sort of an 298 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: air brake to help slow down the shuttle as part 299 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: of the breaking system when you were returning to the 300 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: landing site. Of course, all the airplane like designs of 301 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: the shuttle are only important whenever it's in the Earth's 302 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: atmosphere because in space, there's no atmosphere, so there's no lift, 303 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: there's no air to break against, so none of those 304 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,679 Speaker 1: systems that work so well in Earth's atmosphere would do 305 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 1: you any good at all once you're in space. To 306 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 1: maneuver in space, the shuttle has a couple of different systems. 307 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 1: Has the Orbital Maneuvering System or o MS, and it 308 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: also had i should say had not has the Reaction 309 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:51,679 Speaker 1: Control System or r c S. And those are reaction engines, 310 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: also known as thrusters. They appear as a collection of 311 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: rocket engines on the back side of the shuttle. There's 312 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: also one in the forward part of the the shuttle, 313 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: near the nose uh they're used by the shuttle crew 314 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: to change the shuttles orbit and rendezvous with other spacecraft 315 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: or space stations, and the OMS also allows a shuttle 316 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: to exit orbit for re entry. The RCS is used 317 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: to control roll, pitch and yaw when the orbiter is 318 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: re entering the atmosphere. So having the right orientation with 319 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,160 Speaker 1: regard to the Earth is of critical importance, obviously, because 320 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 1: you want to direct the part of the spacecraft that 321 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: has the heaviest heat shielding uh in uh in in 322 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,639 Speaker 1: in such a way that that's what's taking the brunt 323 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: of all the heat and pressure of re entry. NASA 324 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: started developing the O M S engines as early as 325 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, so it's good to remember that when 326 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: you look at a space shuttle, what you're really looking 327 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: at is a collection of hundreds of different subsystems, and 328 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,400 Speaker 1: each of those had their own teams of designers, engineers, 329 00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: and technicians, all working largely independently of one another. They 330 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 1: had to make certain that everything was compatible with each other. 331 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,399 Speaker 1: But you had all these different teams working around the 332 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,159 Speaker 1: same time on these different systems. It was It's an 333 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: incredibly complicated piece of machinery. So are a lot of 334 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,640 Speaker 1: different projects. They're all going on during the same time 335 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 1: of development. So why didn't NASA proceed with this piggyback 336 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 1: design that they had suggested before with the hypersonic plane 337 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,679 Speaker 1: carrying the orbital Shuttle. Well, the main problem was budget cutbacks. 338 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: So in order to keep the Shuttle program alive in 339 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: the wake of these smaller budgets that NASA was able 340 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: to secure, they had to make some big compromises. So, 341 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: just as the Space Agency had to switch gears and 342 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,119 Speaker 1: focus on a capsule based space program to meet the 343 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: goal that Kennedy had laid out in nineteen one, they 344 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: now had to work on a different means of getting 345 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: the Shuttle up into space because they just weren't gonna 346 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,640 Speaker 1: have the budget to pursue this hypersonic plane approach. Uh, 347 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: So they set that aside, although they would do a 348 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: glider test that would be somewhat similar to the approach 349 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: that they had suggested with the hypersonic plane, except, of course, 350 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: the glider test would be aboard a plane that could 351 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,800 Speaker 1: not achieve hypersonic travel. I'll talk a little bit about 352 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: that towards the end of the episode. So instead, the 353 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: decision was made to go with rocket boosters to put 354 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: the Shuttle into a position where it could enter orbit. 355 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: But it wouldn't involve putting the Shuttle on a full 356 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: launch vehicle the way the Apollo or the Mercury or 357 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,919 Speaker 1: the Gemini space capsules were. The shuttle itself would be 358 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 1: one component of this overall launch system. So if you 359 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: were to look at a space shuttle on a launchpad, 360 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: you're at a distance, you're looking at the shuttle. It's 361 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 1: attached to all of its components. It would look like 362 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:54,680 Speaker 1: the shuttle was piggybacked onto a very large rocket on 363 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,439 Speaker 1: the other side, the far side of the shuttle, and 364 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: then there'd be two big rocket thrusters on either side 365 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: of that middle rocket. But that middle rocket isn't a 366 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,919 Speaker 1: rocket at all. That central cylinder is the external tank. 367 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: It's a fuel tank. It's just a gigantic fuel tank 368 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: that carried the rocket fuel necessary for the shuttle's own 369 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,639 Speaker 1: primary engines to fire those three main engines. Now, I 370 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: mentioned in the Rocket Science episode that solid fuel rockets 371 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: cannot be turned off. Once you ignite them, they burn 372 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: until there's nothing to burn. So the Space Shuttle booster 373 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: rockets were two enormous solid fuel rocket boosters, and they 374 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: were just used for liftoff. Obviously, the orbiter itself had 375 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 1: three main engines which used liquid fuel, so they can 376 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,639 Speaker 1: be turned on and turned off. The external tank held 377 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,160 Speaker 1: all that liquid fuel and the oxidizer, so collectively these 378 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: rocket engines provided millions of pounds of thrust, which was 379 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: necessary to propel the Shuttle into orbit to achieve that 380 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,360 Speaker 1: eleven kilometers per second necessary to escape the Earth's gravity. 381 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: In a bit, I'm going to talk about the launch process, 382 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,880 Speaker 1: but first let me give you a few more specifications 383 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,960 Speaker 1: about the Shuttle itself. A typical crew on a Space 384 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: Shuttle mission was six or seven astronauts, but the first 385 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: few missions had a crew of just two astronauts, so 386 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: you had a commander and a pilot, and two of 387 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: the missions actually had a crew of eight astronauts, though 388 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 1: the second of those, the STS seventy one mission, started 389 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,719 Speaker 1: with seven crew members. So where did the eighth come from. 390 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: How did that happen? Well, the mission went to the 391 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: Mere Space Station and they brought up to relief cosmonauts 392 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 1: who came aboard the space station, and they brought home 393 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:48,440 Speaker 1: two cosmonauts plus an astronaut in addition to their regular 394 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: crew of five crew members. So that added up to 395 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,479 Speaker 1: eight on the trip home, seven on the way up, 396 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,680 Speaker 1: eight on the way back. There were three pressurized areas 397 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: for the crew in the space shuttle. The flight deck 398 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: was where the commander and pilot would sit. That's where 399 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: the forward and rear flight controls existed. So all these 400 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: switches and and and control sticks and everything that you 401 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 1: would see, that's all in the flight deck section. It 402 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: also could have two seats set behind the commander and 403 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: the pilot that would give seating for up to four 404 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: in the flight deck section for takeoff and landing. Then 405 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: there was the mid deck. The mid deck normally had 406 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: three more seats in it, so that's where your additional 407 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: three astronauts could sit. With your full component of seven 408 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: for the mission I just mentioned above, in which two 409 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,680 Speaker 1: cosmonauts returned home two additional ones, so you had eight 410 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: instead of seven. The crew actually would install two special 411 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: chairs in the mid deck that were in a sort 412 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: of reclined position. Because the two cosmonauts had been aboard 413 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: the Mere Space Station for a long time, I think 414 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: more than a hundred days, and they were there was 415 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: concern about how their bodies would react upon being re 416 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: introduced to Earth's gravity, so they were put in a 417 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: special reclined chair that had been made specifically for that purpose. 418 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,120 Speaker 1: Both of them were in reclined chairs in that mid 419 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,360 Speaker 1: deck section. Before taking off, there's a group of astronauts 420 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: that are not going on that mission who are part 421 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: of the process. They verify that every person who is 422 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: going is properly strapped into his or her respective chair, 423 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: because frequently, apparently when you're getting ready to go on 424 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: a Space Shuttle mission, you've got a whole bunch of 425 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,399 Speaker 1: stuff on your mind, like all the things you need 426 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: to check before you take off and your mission parameters 427 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: and things like that, and sometimes that means you forget 428 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,880 Speaker 1: to strap yourself in. So this crew had the official 429 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: designation of the Astronauts Support Personnel or ASP, but some 430 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: of them were called Cape Crusaders because they did their 431 00:25:55,840 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: launches at at Kate Kennedy Kipe Canaveral and astronaut Chris Hadfield, 432 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: that's the Canadian astronaut. He became famous when he UH 433 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,440 Speaker 1: shared a YouTube video of him aboard the International Space 434 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: Station and he was playing the song Space Oddity. He 435 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 1: served as a cape crusader a couple of times before 436 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,879 Speaker 1: he actually went up in a Shuttle mission. Now, if 437 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: you look at the top side of a Space Shuttle, 438 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: you see that split that goes down a large section 439 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: of the top side. That's the cargo doors. It's a 440 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: pair of doors, huge cargo doors. They open up to 441 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: the shuttles cargo bay. The cargo bay is sixty ft long. 442 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: That's about eighteen meters and fifteen feet wide or four 443 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: and a half meters. The heaviest payload the Shuttle ever 444 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: had to carry up in a mission was twenty five tons, 445 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: and that was for the Chandra X ray observatory and 446 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 1: the upper stage booster for that observatory. The cargo bay 447 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,800 Speaker 1: on the Space Shuttle also had a robotic manipulator arm 448 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: that would allow Shuttle crew to deploy or retrieve satellites. 449 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: So just a giant articulated arm that could that could 450 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:13,359 Speaker 1: grab a satellite, pull it from the cargo bay and 451 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: place it gently off into space. Pretty cool. Also, it 452 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: had the docking capability to dock with the International Space 453 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: Station as well as the Russian Space Station mirror. The 454 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: shuttle had its own airlock which two astronauts could fit 455 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,439 Speaker 1: into at a time in order to go into the 456 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: cargo section where they would work with the satellites and 457 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: stuff like that. Uh. But if they were docking with 458 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: a space station, then they would rely upon the space 459 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: station's air dock that it would connect to a connector 460 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: inside the cargo bay. But the astronauts wouldn't pass through 461 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: an airlock from the shuttle side. They passed through an 462 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: airlock on the space station side. Electricity on the Space 463 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: Shuttle was generated by fuel cells. I love talking about 464 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 1: fuel cells. I've got a future episode of tech Stuff 465 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,479 Speaker 1: planned where I will be talking about fuel cells with 466 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: regard to cars and and uh, you know, terrestrial vehicles 467 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 1: and comparing them against electric vehicles, which they're they're very 468 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 1: closely related but super interesting. And they were used as 469 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 1: the power source on the Space Shuttle missions. The heat 470 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,679 Speaker 1: shielding was primarily while he was all over the shuttle. 471 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 1: On the entire shuttle was covered by heat shield material, 472 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: but some of the most potent stuff that The black 473 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: tiles were on the bottom side of the shuttle and 474 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,719 Speaker 1: were incredibly efficient and absorbing heat that had a very 475 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: high capacity for heat. The shuttle had a couple of 476 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: forward control thrusters near the nose of the spacecraft. I 477 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:49,719 Speaker 1: mentioned that earlier, and on landing, of course, they shuttle 478 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: would deploy not just the landing gear, but once it 479 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: touched down, it would deploy a parachute to help it 480 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: slow down. So the Space Shuttle had a breaking system 481 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: that included a parachute, It included that split rudder I 482 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, It included other breaks because it was traveling 483 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,360 Speaker 1: really fast even as it was coming down now after 484 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: descending through our atmosphere. Now, when we come back from 485 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: the break, I'm going to talk about the lift off 486 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: and landing process that the Space Shuttle went through on 487 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 1: its missions and the various shuttles that were in the program, 488 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: and of course will spend a moment to talk about 489 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: the two tragic UH Space Shuttle missions that that ended 490 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: in the loss of the entire crew for both missions. 491 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: That will come up after this ad break. So let 492 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 1: us take a quick break to thank our sponsors. All right, 493 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: on the launch pad. If you were looking at the shuttle, 494 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: the shuttle is upright, so it's it's with the nose 495 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: facing in the air and the engine facing towards the ground. 496 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:57,959 Speaker 1: That makes sense, right, But that also means that all 497 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: the chairs inside are such that if you were sitting 498 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: in the shuttle and you're ready for launch, you're essentially 499 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,480 Speaker 1: on your back looking up, which is a good position 500 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 1: because you're braced for a liftoff, but it also means 501 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: that when you are coming in for landing, the chairs 502 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: are in the normal upright position that we Earthlings tend 503 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: to be in, which makes sense, and the bottom of 504 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: the shuttle will make contact with the ground. If you've 505 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: ever watched a launch, you've likely heard the countdown and 506 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: probably a whole lot of chatter as various people go 507 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: through an exhaustive checklist to verify that everything is a 508 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: go for launch, and technicians, all of their in charge 509 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: of their various systems technically had the power to give 510 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,080 Speaker 1: a go or no go based off the readings they 511 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: were getting from their individual respective sensors and equipment. So 512 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 1: if something looked wrong, they could say no go, there's 513 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: a there's a problem, and then the process would stop. 514 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: If it was a fixable problem, technicians would try to 515 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: fix it and verify that the fix worked and the 516 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 1: process would start up again. Otherwise thelaunch would have to 517 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 1: be scrapped. The same was true about whether if the 518 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: weather was not right for a launch, they could hold 519 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: for a little bit. But there's a limited window for 520 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: a launch to happen where the shuttle is going to 521 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: enter orbit at the proper spot in order for it 522 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: to conduct its mission, So bad weather can completely scrap 523 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: a launch as well and force everyone to go for 524 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,720 Speaker 1: the next day. On the launch pad, an orbiter access 525 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: arm provides a walkway to the shuttle's cabin. That's how 526 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: you board the shuttle. So the launch pad has a 527 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 1: tower and that tower has an orbiter access arm or 528 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: walkway that connects to the shuttle. So at tea minus 529 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,720 Speaker 1: seven minutes thirty seconds, the order would be given to 530 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: retract that arm. At team minute team minus five minutes, 531 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 1: so five minutes up from liftoff, the commander of the 532 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: shuttle would give the order to start the auxiliary power 533 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: units aboard the shuttle. They would receive this order from 534 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: ground control and then they would start to power up 535 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 1: the auxiliary power units on the shuttle itself. At TEA 536 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: minus two minutes, the crew would give be given the 537 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: order to close their visors for their launch and entry suits, 538 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 1: the pressurized suits that they would wear in case of 539 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: some emergency de pressurization so that they could survive such 540 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: a thing. At team minus thirty one seconds, assuming everything 541 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: is cool, the go command is issued and the auto 542 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: sequence start begins, which hands off primary control of the 543 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:32,600 Speaker 1: countdown to the shuttles computers from ground control to shuttle. 544 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: At team minus sixteen seconds, they would activate these sound 545 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: suppression water system. And I mentioned this earlier, So the 546 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: system absorbs sound to help prevent acoustic damage to the shuttle. 547 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: So it's not just thinking, oh what about the neighbors, 548 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 1: it's literally the engines create so much vibration, so much sound, 549 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: that it could potentially damage the spacecraft itself, and so 550 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: this water system is meant to absorb some of that vibration. 551 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: It's flowing water through a big system that can accept 552 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: that vibration and thus dampen it a little bit. At 553 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: T minus uh six seconds, the engines all fire up. 554 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: Each of the three engines on the main orbiter start 555 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 1: I should say all the engines on the orbiter start 556 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 1: up the main engines at tea zero seconds. That's when 557 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: the solid fuel boosters ignite. So those rocket boosters on 558 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 1: either side ignite their solid The thrust is incredible. The 559 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: bolts holding the shuttle to the ground are released in 560 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 1: a little explosion, and the bolts all pop off and 561 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: the Shuttle takes off into the sky through the power 562 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: of rocket science. Now at the end of a mission, 563 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: so during the mission, the Shuttle crew does whatever they're 564 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 1: supposed to do, like maybe they're deploying a satellite. Maybe 565 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: they're doing repair work on the Hubble Space telescope which 566 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: was wired a couple of times. Maybe they're visiting the 567 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: International Space Station, maybe they're changing crew out on the 568 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: space station, whatever the parameters might be. At the conclusion 569 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:12,319 Speaker 1: of a mission, the Space Shuttle orbiter, once it's in 570 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 1: the proper uh position relative to the Earth, would close 571 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: its cargo bay doors. It would fire the RCS engines 572 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,440 Speaker 1: in order to maneuver into the proper orientation so that 573 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,399 Speaker 1: would be facing tail first toward the Earth, and then 574 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 1: it would fire the O M S engines to slow 575 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:35,359 Speaker 1: down the orbiter, and by slowing down it causes your 576 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,840 Speaker 1: orbit to decay. Right, if you're no longer going orbital speed, 577 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: you start to descend and you begin to re enter 578 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: the Earth's atmosphere. It actually would take about twenty five 579 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: minutes from that reorientation uh to actually make contact with 580 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:57,080 Speaker 1: the upper atmosphere. So it's not like they reordered ordered themselves. 581 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,120 Speaker 1: Tell first fired an engine and then immediately they were falling. 582 00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: I mean technically they were kind of falling, but not 583 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: in the Earth's atmosphere. It would take another twenty five 584 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: minutes to get there. During that process, the crew would 585 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: fire the RCS engines several more times to adjust the 586 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: shuttle's orientation again so that the bottom of the shuttle 587 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: would face the Earth. So while they would be tail 588 00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: first for the essentially the breaking process, they would reorient 589 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 1: to be bottom facing the Earth for the re entry process, 590 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 1: and they would also point the shuttle so that it 591 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: was nose first again. The crew would also burn any 592 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:39,200 Speaker 1: leftover fuel in the forward RCS engine as a safety precaution, 593 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: because the nose section of the shuttle was going to 594 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: end up being the the site for a lot of 595 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: heat and they didn't want to have any accidental ignitions. 596 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: Of any leftover fuel, so they burn off the fuel 597 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: the excess fuel on purpose. At that point, the heat 598 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:01,920 Speaker 1: shielding absorbs that intense heat with getting too hot themselves. 599 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:05,480 Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing the heat capacity of those those tiles 600 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: that were used on the Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle 601 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,280 Speaker 1: had aft steering jets that would help keep the shuttle 602 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,879 Speaker 1: at the proper forty degree attitude upon landing or re entry, 603 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,319 Speaker 1: i should say, and once the orbit was low enough 604 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere, it could start to glide. Once the 605 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: atmosphere and once it reached a density that was sufficient 606 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 1: to provide lift, the shuttle could go into glide mode 607 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: at about two thousand feet altitude. The commander would pull 608 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:34,080 Speaker 1: up on the nose, which helps slow the descent of 609 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,320 Speaker 1: the shuttle, and the pilot would deploy the landing gear. 610 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 1: Upon touchdown on the landing strip, the uh the pilot 611 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,719 Speaker 1: would engage the brakes and deploy a parachute, and the 612 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,480 Speaker 1: vertical split rudder would open up to act as an 613 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: air brake, and the shuttle would come to a halt 614 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 1: somewhere maybe halfway to three quarters down the landing strip. 615 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: Then the crew would go through a power down sequence 616 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: powering down all the different systems aboard the shuttle. That 617 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 1: would take another twenty minutes or so, and at that 618 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,759 Speaker 1: point they could finally get out and touch foot back 619 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 1: down to Earth. The shuttles in the program included one 620 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,600 Speaker 1: called the Enterprise. That one was never designed to go 621 00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 1: into orbit. It was a test vehicle. Uh it was 622 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: used for gliding tests, and it piggybacked on a specially 623 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,360 Speaker 1: outfitted seven forty seven. So this is the one I 624 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,680 Speaker 1: mentioned that was close to that original design for the 625 00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:39,839 Speaker 1: Space Shuttle, except, of course a seven forty seven is 626 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:43,400 Speaker 1: not a hypersonic aircraft, so it never would have been 627 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,320 Speaker 1: able to launch off a seven seven in the way 628 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,279 Speaker 1: that the original engineers had planned, but it did use 629 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 1: one to launch from for gliding tests. The shuttles that 630 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:59,760 Speaker 1: were in active use were the Discovery, the Endeavor, the Atlantis, 631 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:04,040 Speaker 1: the Challenger, and the Columbia. And the Challenger in Columbia 632 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: were two of the awful tragedies in the United States 633 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: Space Program. I had talked about a few of the 634 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,399 Speaker 1: others and some of the other episodes. These two were 635 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 1: also terrible, terrible losses, and they both resulted in the 636 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 1: death of the entire crew aboard on each of their 637 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: respective missions. The Challenger exploded during STS five one l 638 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 1: It was the tenth mission for the Challengers. The Challenger 639 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:34,080 Speaker 1: had already been on nine other missions successfully. A seal 640 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:38,040 Speaker 1: on one of its rocket boosters failed and that allowed 641 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:42,760 Speaker 1: hot gas to burn through and pierce the external tank, 642 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 1: the one carrying all the fuel and oxidizer and propellant, 643 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:50,280 Speaker 1: and it caused an explosion and the loss of all aboard. 644 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:55,680 Speaker 1: The Columbia broke apart during re entry on the mission 645 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,680 Speaker 1: STS one oh seven. That was the twenty mission for 646 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:03,879 Speaker 1: the Columbia. The Endeavor would be entered into service after 647 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:08,279 Speaker 1: the Challenger and all in all, through the entire space program, 648 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:13,280 Speaker 1: there were one five Space Shuttle missions that took place 649 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: between and when the program ended in two thousand eleven. 650 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 1: The Discovery now calls the Dvar Hazy Center at the 651 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:27,320 Speaker 1: Smithsonian Home. The Endeavor is over at the California Science 652 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:31,200 Speaker 1: Center in Los Angeles. The Atlantis is at the Kennedy 653 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:35,400 Speaker 1: Space Center, and you can see a full sized replica 654 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:38,879 Speaker 1: of the Space Shuttle at Space Center Houston. That one 655 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: is called the Independence, but it's a replica. It did 656 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:46,480 Speaker 1: not go into space. UM now I'm going to take 657 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,640 Speaker 1: a quick tangent to talk about the launch vehicles developed 658 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,600 Speaker 1: by SpaceX. I mentioned this in the last episode, but 659 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:54,960 Speaker 1: that episode was raring super long, so instead it's going 660 00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: to go in this one, which I'm sure we'll also 661 00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,680 Speaker 1: run super long. But the last two launch vehicles that 662 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:04,080 Speaker 1: I need dimension uh, that were are will be responsible 663 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:08,760 Speaker 1: for taking crude as in manned missions up into space 664 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:12,800 Speaker 1: are the Falcon nine and the Falcon Heavy from SpaceX. Now, 665 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:14,520 Speaker 1: before I do, I also have to stress there were 666 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,760 Speaker 1: a lot of launch vehicles that were planned but never built, 667 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:19,839 Speaker 1: and there were a lot of launch vehicles that were 668 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:24,040 Speaker 1: designed for unmanned payloads going into space. And there are 669 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,920 Speaker 1: tons of countries besides the United States and Russia that 670 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: have developed launch vehicles, but I focused on US and 671 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,280 Speaker 1: the uss are because of the Space race angle, and 672 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,520 Speaker 1: I also focused on the manned missions for the purpose 673 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:38,560 Speaker 1: of these podcasts, because again, to go into all of 674 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:42,400 Speaker 1: these different launch vehicles would take just take a podcast 675 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,960 Speaker 1: series all by itself. So let's finish up with the 676 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:49,680 Speaker 1: Falcons and rise up, so to speak. The Falcon nine 677 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,560 Speaker 1: is a two stage launch vehicle. It's classified as a 678 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 1: medium lift vehicle The current version has the designation of 679 00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:02,240 Speaker 1: Falcon nine Full Thrust, and it is a partially reusable spacecraft. 680 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:06,879 Speaker 1: The reusability of components helps bring down those costs, right. 681 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: That's what I've mentioned before, and so that was one 682 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,520 Speaker 1: of the big selling points of SpaceX launch vehicles was 683 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,960 Speaker 1: that they would be at least partially reusable, and um 684 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,680 Speaker 1: the earliest versions of the Falcon nine rocket launched in June. 685 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,480 Speaker 1: The Falcon nine full thrust is two thirty feet tall 686 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:29,160 Speaker 1: or seventy meters. It is twelve feet in diameter or 687 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 1: three point seven meters. I can carry payloads of up 688 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,840 Speaker 1: to four thousand, twenty ms or eight thousand, hundred sixty 689 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 1: pounds if you want to go to Mars. If you 690 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:40,200 Speaker 1: think Mars is too far and you just want to 691 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: go to low Earth orbit, you can actually pack up 692 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:46,560 Speaker 1: to twenty two thousand, eight hundred kilograms or fifty thousand, 693 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: three hundred pounds worth of stuff on it. So I 694 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: mentioned that earlier too, is that the amount of stuff 695 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: you can carry on a launch vehicle also depends on 696 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:57,640 Speaker 1: where you want to go. The further out you want 697 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,880 Speaker 1: to go, the less stuff you can take. The Falcon 698 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,360 Speaker 1: heavy like the Falcon nine is partially reusable, and it's 699 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,720 Speaker 1: crazy big. So if you look at a Falcon nine 700 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:15,520 Speaker 1: launch vehicle, just imagine having two other first stage Falcon 701 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 1: nine launch vehicles next to the middle one and and 702 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,839 Speaker 1: strapping them together, and you've got yourself a Falcon Heavy. 703 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,919 Speaker 1: The Falcon Heavy is essentially a Falcon nine at the core, 704 00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:31,920 Speaker 1: flanked by two Falcon nine first stages as booster rockets. 705 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:35,520 Speaker 1: It's one of the most powerful launch vehicles ever designed. 706 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:40,759 Speaker 1: It currently is the the only or currently it can 707 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:45,400 Speaker 1: carry the heaviest payload out of all active launch vehicles. Um, 708 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,080 Speaker 1: it's the fourth most powerful of all time. It's right 709 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:51,400 Speaker 1: behind the Saturn five. The Saturn five was the launch 710 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:54,239 Speaker 1: craft that was responsible for taking astronauts to the Moon, 711 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,120 Speaker 1: and so it had a little bit more oomph than 712 00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:00,680 Speaker 1: the Falcon Heavy. Uh. There are a couple of other 713 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,080 Speaker 1: launch vehicles in the past that would also outperform the 714 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,560 Speaker 1: Falcon Heavy on paper, but none of those are in 715 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 1: active service right now. The Falcon Heavy is the same 716 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:11,840 Speaker 1: height as the Falcon nine because it's using that same 717 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:16,439 Speaker 1: rocket essentially as its core, but those two extra first 718 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:19,359 Speaker 1: stages make it much wider because you know, it's got 719 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:21,640 Speaker 1: one on either side of it. Its capacity means it 720 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:25,799 Speaker 1: can carry sixty three thousand, eight hundred kilograms or one 721 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,440 Speaker 1: hundred forty thousand, seven hundred pounds to low Earth orbit, 722 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:32,680 Speaker 1: an enormous payload. Now, if you want to go to Mars, 723 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:34,880 Speaker 1: you gotta slim down a little bit. You can have 724 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 1: a payload of sixteen thousand, eight hundred kilograms or thirty 725 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: seven thousand pounds. Let's say you want to go all 726 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:43,040 Speaker 1: the way out to Pluto. Well, then you have to 727 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:44,799 Speaker 1: slim down even more. You know, you could have as 728 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: much as three thousand, five hundred kilograms of payload, which 729 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,400 Speaker 1: is the same as seven thousand, seven hundred pounds. A 730 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:52,480 Speaker 1: lot of that better be lunches, because it's gonna take 731 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:55,000 Speaker 1: you a really long time to get to Pluto. The 732 00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,520 Speaker 1: Falcon Heavy has had only one test flight as of 733 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: the recording of this podcast. Asked that was when Elon 734 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,640 Speaker 1: Musk sent his Tesla Roadster on a trip to Mars. 735 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:07,480 Speaker 1: I guess he got tired of the mechanics, saying they 736 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:10,400 Speaker 1: couldn't replicate whatever the problem was or something. But in 737 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:13,320 Speaker 1: the driver's seat of this Tesla Roadster was a dummy 738 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: wearing a SpaceX space suit and it had the name 739 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: star Man, and the cars sound system was set to 740 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,880 Speaker 1: play a loop of space Oddity and Life on Mars 741 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:28,680 Speaker 1: to David Bowie songs. Uh, although I have to admit 742 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,719 Speaker 1: in space no one can hear you listen to clam Rock. 743 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:37,200 Speaker 1: And that wraps up are huge block of content about 744 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,800 Speaker 1: space travel. Obviously, there are a lot of other things 745 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:44,920 Speaker 1: we could talk about. Space sales, we could talk about, 746 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:50,040 Speaker 1: you know, the gravity towing. There's tons of different stuff 747 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,440 Speaker 1: in space that's super cool. But some of it I've 748 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: covered before, and other topics I'm sure i'll cover in 749 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:58,480 Speaker 1: future episodes. If you have any suggestions for topics I 750 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:01,200 Speaker 1: should cover, please let me know. Send me an email. 751 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,200 Speaker 1: The address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. 752 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,960 Speaker 1: Don't forget, We've got a merch store over at t 753 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,279 Speaker 1: public dot com slash tech Stuff. You can go and 754 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:13,239 Speaker 1: check it out. You can get a tote bag or 755 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 1: a T shirt, or a coffee mug or phone case, 756 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:19,479 Speaker 1: and we have all these different designs that are on there. 757 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,920 Speaker 1: You can pick out tech Stuff designs. I've also included 758 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:27,160 Speaker 1: the quizter design from Ridiculous History, So if you are 759 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 1: familiar with that podcast. You know that I occasionally show 760 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:34,080 Speaker 1: up as the quiz ster that uh. That particular design 761 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:36,120 Speaker 1: is also available in the tech Stuff store if you 762 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,840 Speaker 1: want to pick it up. And whenever you buy anything, 763 00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:42,279 Speaker 1: a portion of that goes to the show, So you're 764 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,239 Speaker 1: actually helping the show out if you purchase stuff. So 765 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:47,480 Speaker 1: take a look see if there's something there that you like, 766 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:51,720 Speaker 1: and if so, you'll get a really cool gift, or 767 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:54,440 Speaker 1: maybe it's a gift for yourself, and you also help 768 00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,120 Speaker 1: the show a little bit. I'd be awesome if you 769 00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 1: want to get in touch with me, but you don't 770 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 1: want to use email, send me a message on Facebook 771 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:03,239 Speaker 1: or Twitter. The handle for both of those is tech 772 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:06,840 Speaker 1: Stuff h s W. Also, don't forget we've got an 773 00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:10,040 Speaker 1: Instagram account. You gotta go follow that. Trust me, it's 774 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,479 Speaker 1: worth it, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 775 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:21,640 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, is 776 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:32,839 Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com