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In contrast with previous US spacecraft, which had used ablative heat shields, the reusability of the orbiter required a multi-use heat shield. [4]: 72–73 During reentry, the TPS experienced temperatures up to 1,600 °C (3,000 °F), but had to keep the orbiter vehicle's aluminum skin temperature below 180 °C (350 °F). The TPS primarily ...
Space Shuttle Discovery as it approaches the International Space Station during the STS-114 on 28 July 2005. The Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS) is the barrier that protected the Space Shuttle Orbiter during the extreme 1,650 °C (3,000 °F) heat of atmospheric reentry. A secondary goal was to protect from the heat and cold of ...
The Space Shuttle Columbia was lost as it returned from a two-week mission when previously detected damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS) resulted in the spacecraft breaking apart during reentry at an altitude of just under 65 km and a speed of about Mach 19. Investigation revealed that a piece of foam insulation had fallen ...
The space shuttle project was forged in the optimism of NASA’s Apollo program, which landed 12 astronauts on the surface of the moon and bested America’s Soviet rivals during the Cold War.
Riding the International Space Station's robot arm, he ventured under the Shuttle to remove a pair of gap fillers sticking out between tiles on the orbiter's heat shield. Astronaut Steve Robinson turns the camera on himself during his repair job "underneath" Discovery. The Shuttle's heat shield is reflected in his visor. Damaged thermal blanket
STS-27 was the 27th NASA Space Shuttle mission, and the third flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Launching on December 2, 1988, on a four-day mission, it was the second shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of January 1986.
The Shuttle's replacement, Orion, was to have consisted of an Apollo-derived spacecraft launched on the Ares I rocket, which would use a Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster as its first stage. Orion would not face the dangers of either an O-ring failure (due to the presence of a launch escape system [ 8 ] ) or shedding foam (as the spacecraft ...
Many problems arose with the tiles used on the Space Shuttle, while minor damage to the heat shield was somewhat commonplace. Major damage to the heat shield almost caused the destruction of Space shuttle Atlantis in 1988 and did cause the loss of Columbia in 2003. [18] [19] [20]