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A gravity turn is commonly used with rocket powered vehicles that launch vertically, like the Space Shuttle. The rocket begins by flying straight up, gaining both vertical speed and altitude. During this portion of the launch, gravity acts directly against the thrust of the rocket, lowering its vertical acceleration.
[1] [2] If the rocket is not launched within a given window, it has to wait for the window on the next day of the period. [3] Launch periods and launch windows are dependent on both the rocket's capability and the orbit to which it is going. [4] [5] A launch period refers to the days
The solid rocket motor ignition commands are issued when the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) are at or above 90% of rated thrust, no SSME fail and/or SRB ignition Pyrotechnic Initiator Controller (PIC) low voltage is indicated and there are no holds from the Launch Processing System (LPS).
The rocket is launched using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen cryogenic propellants. Rocket propellant is used as reaction mass ejected from a rocket engine to produce thrust . The energy required can either come from the propellants themselves, as with a chemical rocket , or from an external source, as with ion engines .
A rocket's required mass ratio as a function of effective exhaust velocity ratio. The classical rocket equation, or ideal rocket equation is a mathematical equation that describes the motion of vehicles that follow the basic principle of a rocket: a device that can apply acceleration to itself using thrust by expelling part of its mass with high velocity and can thereby move due to the ...
"Nitrogen inflated the 10-foot-diameter (3.0 m) heat shield, made of several layers of silicone-coated fabric, to a mushroom shape in space several minutes after liftoff." [60] The rocket apogee was at an altitude of 131 miles (211 km) where it began its descent to supersonic speed. Less than a minute later the shield was released from its ...
Like other rocket guidance systems, it maintained its state vector (position and velocity estimates) by integrating accelerometer measurements, sent firing and steering commands to the main engines and auxiliary thrusters, and fired the appropriate ordnance and solid rocket motors during staging and payload separation events.
After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) concluded that NASA had not set up a "truly independent" office for safety oversight. [ 70 ] : 178–180 The CAIB concluded that the ineffective safety culture that had resulted in the Challenger accident was also responsible for the subsequent ...