Wednesday, July 05, 2006

How the Space Shuttle Works.

With the recent launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, the fate of the Space Shuttle program is once again up for debate. The launch was delayed and altered by weather and the use of the foam on the external fuel tanks remains a problems. Like the ill-fated Columbia, more pieces of foam fell off during the launch of the Discovery, requiring the crew to do extensive tests and checks to see if they will be able to make it home. However, the Space Shuttle Program is running out of time. The program began over 35 years ago with the rush of the space race of the 1960's. Finding a way to send a person into space and back with a reusable craft was crucial and the Space Shuttle as we know it can be traced back to Nixon's administration.

Richard Nixon gets a toy Space Shuttle for his Birthday!

HowStuffWorks.com has gone through all the trouble to make sure all your questions about how the Space Shuttle works are answered. They have made little flash movies to illustrate re-entry and orbit. Overall, quite a nice job.

www.gispilot.com

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