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Escape speed at a distance d from the center of a spherically symmetric primary body (such as a star or a planet) with mass M is given by the formula [2] [3] = = where: G is the universal gravitational constant (G ≈ 6.67 × 10 −11 m 3 ⋅kg −1 ⋅s −2 [4])
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program.
2.3 Escape velocity. 3 Types of space launch. ... NASA's Space Shuttle used 400,000 ft, or 75.76 miles (120 km), as its re-entry altitude ...
One classical thermal escape mechanism is Jeans escape, [1] named after British astronomer Sir James Jeans, who first described this process of atmospheric loss. [2] In a quantity of gas, the average velocity of any one molecule is measured by the gas's temperature, but the velocities of individual molecules change as they collide with one another, gaining and losing kinetic energy.
A space vehicle's flight is determined by application of Newton's second law of motion: =, where F is the vector sum of all forces exerted on the vehicle, m is its current mass, and a is the acceleration vector, the instantaneous rate of change of velocity (v), which in turn is the instantaneous rate of change of displacement.
An ejection escape system, sometimes called a "launch escape system", had been discussed many times for the shuttle. After the Challenger and Columbia losses, great interest was expressed in this. All previous and subsequent U.S. crewed space vehicles have launch escape systems, although as of 2025 [update] none have ever been used for an ...
After working to improve the booster design and creating new management practices to improve safety, NASA relaunched shuttle flights on Sept. 29, 1988, when Discovery lifted off from the space center.
The alternative Generation 1.5 design, such as 4 kilometres per second (2.5 mi/s) launch velocity, would be intermediate in velocity terms between Gen-1's 8.8 kilometres per second (5.5 mi/s) and the Maglifter design (which had $0.2 billion estimated cost for 0.3 kilometres per second (0.19 mi/s) launch assist in the case of a 50-ton vehicle).