Touching the Sky
1
The five orbiters travelled a combined distance of 513 million miles. That’s 1.3 times the distance from the Earth to Jupiter. When in orbit around the Earth, the crew experienced a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. The SRBs were jettisoned two minutes into the flight, at an altitude of 44 km. Their momentum carried them up to 65 km before they fell back to Earth. Columbia makes its first orbital flight The onboard flight computer ran on only 1 MB of RAMabout a hundredth of that of a Nintendo Wii. The orbiter was made up of more than 2.5 million components, including over 200 miles of wire. By the time it reached an altitude of 235 miles, the orbiter would be travelling at a speed of 17,500 mph, covering the length of 75 football pitches every second! There were about 25,000 heat-resistant tiles on the orbiter, which had to withstand a temperature range of almost 1800 °C. 1981 1983 Challenger sees first spacewalk by a space shuttle crew 1986 Challenger explodes shortly after launch Columbia disintegrates upon re-entry 2003 2011 Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis make their final flights Hubble Telescope is launched by Discovery 1990 The orbiter’s three main englines ran on liquid hydrogen and oxygen, generating a total of 37 million horsepower. There were two smaller engines for manoeuvring and making orbital adjustments. A 15-metre mechanical arm was used to deploy and retrieve satellites and other equipment. Each shuttle launch cost NASA $450 million. The total cost of the program was about $200 billion. Fully-fuelled, the shuttle weighed 2000 tonnes. Two-thirds of the thrust needed for lift-off was provided by the solid rocket boosters (SRBs). The orbiter’s main engines provided the remainder. The shuttle’s external fuel tank separated from the orbiter nine minutes into the flight, and would burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Endeavour launches ISS module during space shuttle’s first ISS mission 1998 Atlantis launches Magellan probe to Venus 1989 Atlantis sees first shuttle docking to Russia’s MIR space station 1995 Europe’s Columbus laboratory carried to ISS by Atlantis 2008 Touching the Sky A tribute to the space shuttle On the morning of 8 July 2011, more than a million people gathered at Cape Canaveral, Florida to see the final launch of the space shuttle program. With the help of two giant solid rocket boosters, each providing several million pounds of thrust, the orbiter Atlantis lifted slowly off the launchpad for the last time. Used to carry large payloads into orbit, the shuttle was NASA’s workhorse for 30 years. Both the orbiter and rocket boosters were designed to be used repeatedly, making the shuttle the world’s first reusable spacecraft. But in the face of rising costs, and after 135 missions and the Challenger and Columbia disasters, NASA has finally retired the ageing space shuttle. Join us as we explore the machine that helped to construct the International Space Station (ISS), put the Hubble Telescope into orbit and inspired a generation to dream of space. Text and art by Samuel Pilgrim.
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Bang! magazine says farewell to the space shuttle.
Transcript of Touching the Sky
The �ve orbiters travelled a combined distance of
513 million miles. That’s 1.3 times the distance
from the Earth to Jupiter.
When in orbit around the Earth, the crew experienced
a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes.
The SRBs were jettisoned two minutes into the �ight,
at an altitude of 44 km. Their momentum carried them up to 65 km before they fell back to Earth.
Columbia makes its �rst orbital �ight
The onboard �ight computer ran on only 1 MB of RAMabout a hundredth of that of
a Nintendo Wii.
The orbiter was made up of more than 2.5
million components, including over 200
miles of wire.
By the time it reached an altitude of 235 miles, the orbiter would be
travelling at a speed of 17,500 mph, covering the length of 75
football pitches every second!
There were about 25,000 heat-resistant tiles on the
orbiter, which had to withstand a temperature range of almost 1800 °C.
1981 1983
Challenger sees �rst spacewalk by a space
shuttle crew
1986
Challenger explodes shortly after launch
Columbia disintegrates upon re-entry
2003 2011
Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis make their �nal �ights
Hubble Telescope is launched by Discovery
1990
The orbiter’s three main englines ran on liquid hydrogen and oxygen, generating a total of 37 million horsepower.
There were two smaller engines for manoeuvring and making orbital adjustments.
A 15-metre mechanical arm was used to deploy and
retrieve satellites and other equipment.
Each shuttle launch cost NASA $450
million. The total cost of the program was about $200 billion.
Fully-fuelled, the shuttle weighed 2000 tonnes. Two-thirds of the thrust needed for
lift-o� was provided by the solid rocket
boosters (SRBs). The orbiter’s main engines
provided the remainder.
The shuttle’s external fuel tank separated from the
orbiter nine minutes into the �ight, and would burn up in
the Earth’s atmosphere.
Endeavour launches ISS module during space
shuttle’s �rst ISS mission
1998
Atlantis launches Magellan probe to
Venus
1989
Atlantis sees �rst shuttle docking to Russia’s MIR
space station
1995
Europe’s Columbus laboratory carried to
ISS by Atlantis
2008
On a number of missions IMAX cameras were also attached to it.
Touching the SkyA tribute to the space shuttleOn the morning of 8 July 2011, more than a million people gathered at Cape Canaveral, Florida to see the final launch of the space shuttle program. With the help of two giant solid rocket boosters, each providing several million pounds of thrust, the orbiter Atlantis lifted slowly off the launchpad for the last time. Used to carry large payloads into orbit, the shuttle was NASA’s workhorse for 30 years. Both the orbiter and rocket boosters were designed to be used repeatedly, making the shuttle the world’s first reusable spacecraft. But in the face of rising costs, and after 135 missions and the Challenger and Columbia disasters, NASA has finally retired the ageing space shuttle. Join us as we explore the machine that helped to construct the International Space Station (ISS), put the Hubble Telescope into orbit and inspired a generation to dream of space.
Text
and
art
by
Sam
uel P
ilgrim
.
