Landing the Spaceship

[jrpilot]

Hello, does anyone know how they land the spaceship for NASA?...I don't thnk they use use thrust when landing at all other than when breaking through the atmosphere...and don's they ussually have to fly a few miles before coming down to earth?

[ChuckMajik]

The orbiter is basicly a glider.
While landing it relies solely on fritcion induced by the atmosphere to slow it's decent.

[RichieB16]

O-evetS is right, the space shuttle is a big glider.  When they land it, there is no thrusters at all and no second approaches.

As far as distance, I know the reentry begins (assuming they are landing at KSC in Florida) somewhere around California.  The reentry lasts until they are passed Texas (Gulf of Mexico area).  Then they glide in-so yes, they fly a long ways until they land.  You have to think about how high and fast they are going.  Once it comes through the atmosphere, the shuttle is well over the sound barrier at a high altitude.  Unfortunatelty, I don't know the exact numbers off of the top of my head.

[jimclarke]

I was in Louisianna several years ago and saw the space shuttle coming through the atmosphere as it was heading for a landing in Florida.  I could see a tiny fireball followed by a white contrail against the dark sky (it was around midnight).  Really impressive.

Jim

[ChuckMajik]

[center][quote]I was in Louisianna several years ago and saw the space shuttle coming through the atmosphere as it was heading for a landing in Florida.