Shuttle design:

• Space shuttle was designed in the 1970s
• First re-useable manned spacecraft
• Intended to make launches cheap ($10 million) & frequent (weekly)
• Elements of shuttle:
  • Orbiter: the "Space Shuttle" itself
    • Crew cabin (air-filled crew living & working quarters)
    • Cargo bay (exposed to vacuum of space, cargo goes here)
    • Wings (big wings used for gliding to a landing)
    • Tiles (heat shield covers orbiter, re-entry protection)
    • Main engines (burn hydrogen/oxygen at launch)
  • External Tank: stores hydrogen/oxygen for orbiter's main engines
  • SRB [Solid Rocket Boosters]: extra boost in first 2 min of launch

Astronauts (5-7 on each shuttle flight):
Commander and Pilot: Two astronauts responsible for flying the spacecraft, they usually come from military test pilot programs.

Mission Specialists: 3-5 career astronauts (NASA or other agencies) with extensive shuttle training, usually with a background in science, engineering or medical work. The MS's perform most of the scientific work, control the robot arm, and go on spacewalks.

Payload Specialists: On rare occasions, someone flies who's not a career
astronaut, usually an expert on a particular experiment.

Launch/Landing facilities:

• Shuttles are launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) (Florida)
• For safety, launch pads are remote (miles away from anything else)
• Launch trajectory is east or northeast over the Atlantic Ocean
• It takes several months to prepare a shuttle for a launch
• Landings are usually done at KSC (Florida)
• Backup landing site is at Edwards Air Force Base (southern Calif.)

Types of missions:

• Launching cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station
• Science experiments (e.g. special laboratory put in cargo bay)
• Launching new spacecraft (but it's usually done with other rockets)
• Improving and fixing spacecraft (e.g. Hubble Space Telescope)

Typical mission:

• Shuttle stays in space for 5-14 days (longest flights about 3 wks)
• Shuttle orbit is only about 150-250 miles above the Earth

Seeing a Shuttle Launch

When the shuttle is launched to ISS, the flight trajectory takes the shuttle up the East Coast, at it passes just offshore Boston about 7-8 minutes after liftoff. At the time, it's 60 miles up.

If it's night (or twilight) in Boston, we can actually see the shuttle launch as it goes by! Look very low in the south and southeast, for a bright orange/white light moving from west to east across the horizon. It's best to look across a lake or ocean, or from a ballfield, where you can see close to the horizon. With binoculars, you can usually see the plume of flame. Then, while the shuttle is near its highest point in the sky, it goes out -- this is "main engine cutoff", the end of the launch. After that, you'll see a few sputtering flashes of light, which are probably small thruster firings by the shuttle as it jettisons the external tank. Remember that we can't see the shuttle until about 7 minutes after liftoff.

There are usually about 3 launches each year that meet these requirements (at night, to the space station). If the weather is clear enough, you might see it! (Launches can also be seen from western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, etc.)

Seeing ISS or Shuttle in Space:
On occasion, you can also see the space shuttle, and space station in orbit. They shine by reflected sunlight, just like the Moon and planets, and they look like bright stars moving across the sky. Predictions regarding when and where to look can be found on the Internet. These spacecraft can be as bright as the planet Venus, and they move quickly, crossing the entire sky in about three or four minutes.

Space Station Sightings:
For information on International Space Station sightings in your city or area please visit: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/SightingData/sighting_index.html.