| It
takes only about eight minutes for the Space
Shuttle to accelerate to a speed of more
than 17,000 miles (27,359 kilometers) per hour.
|
| The
Space Shuttle main
engine weighs 1/7th as much as a train engine
but delivers as much horsepower as 39 locomotives. |
| The
turbopump on the Space Shuttle main engine is
so powerful it could drain an average family-sized
swimming pool in 25 seconds. |
| The
Space Shuttle's three main engines and two solid
rocket boosters generate some 7.3 million
pounds (3.3 million kilograms) of thrust at
liftoff. Compare that with America's first two
manned launch vehicles, the Redstone which produced
78,000 pounds (35,380 kilograms) of thrust,
and the Atlas, which produced 360,000 pounds
(163, 293 kilograms). |
| The
liquid
hydrogen in the Space Shuttle main engine
is -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-253 degrees Centigrade),
the second coldest liquid on Earth, and when
burned with liquid oxygen, the temperature in
the engine's combustion chamber reaches +6,000
degrees F. (+3,316 degrees C.) |
| The
energy released by the three Space Shuttle main
engines is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover
Dams. |
| Each
of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors burns 5
tons (4,536 kilograms) of propellant per second,
a total of 1.1 million pounds (498,952 kilograms)
in 120 seconds. The speed of the gases exiting
the nozzle is more than 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers)
per hour, about five times the speed of sound
or three times the speed of a high-powered rifle
bullet. The plume of flame ranges up to 500
feet (152 meters) long. |
| The
combustion gases in a solid rocket motor are
at a temperature of 6,100 degrees Fahrenheit
(3,371 degrees Centigrade), two-thirds the temperature
of the surface of the sun. While that temperature
is hot enough to boil steel, special insulation
inside the motor protects the steel case so
well that the outside of the case reaches only
about 130 degrees F. (54 degrees C.). |
| A
stacked booster is the same height as the Statue
of Liberty (not including pedestal) -- 151 feet
(46 meters) -- but weighs almost three times
as much. |
| The
four engines of a Boeing 747 jet produce 188,000
pounds (85,275 kilograms) of thrust, while just
one SRM produces more than 17 times as much
thrust -- 3.3 million pounds (1.5 million kilograms).
A pair of SRM's are more powerful than 35 jumbo
jets at takeoff. |
| If
their heat energy could be converted to electric
power, two SRMs firing for two minutes would
produce 2.2 million kilowatt hours of power,
enough to supply the entire power demand of
87,000 homes for a full day. |
| The
Shuttle's Remote
Manipulator System (RMS), or robot arm,
provided by the Canadian Space Agency, weighs
about 905 pounds (411 kilograms) on Earth but
can move cargo in space weighing 66,000 pounds
(29,937 kilograms), objects about the size of
a Greyhound bus. |
