help! phases of a typical space shuttle launch (1 Viewer)

[shantu1992]

Indentify the four phases of a typical space shuttle launch into space, describe briefly what occurs in each stage and what occurs in each one.

 

[alcalder]

Wiki is usually a good place to start looking. It has a picture and everything. I guess you'll need to decide what the 4 phases are, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle

And then there's NASA:

Interplanetary mission operations may be considered in four phases: the Launch Phase, the Cruise Phase, the Encounter Phase, and, depending on the state of spacecraft health and mission funding, the Extended Operations Phase. These "phases" are actually subcategories of a Flight Project's Phase E, Mission Operations and Data Analysis, as discussed in Chapter 7. Each of these mission operations phases, and subjects pertinent to them, are covered starting in this Chapter, and continuing in the next three Chapters.

http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf14-1.html

Hope this helps some.

 

[ianc]

just make sure you talk about physics concepts such as escape velocity and gravity in your answer

 

[youngminii]

Only the launch right? Not re-entry?
I am assuming you are talking about the launch into orbit

There's the Vertical ascent. Pretty much liftoff, going straightup.. Using rockets and the conservation of momentum to get off the ground.. And there's something about a roll manoeuvre and air friction? Not sure

Then there's the Pitch over. Where it tilts so that it's not completely vertical (ie. it gains a horizontal velocity as well, since orbit is simply falling in a horizontal motion. Hope you've been paying attention to circular motion and centripetal force)

Then there's Gravity turn. Pretty much the same as the Pitch over, except the spacecraft uses gravity to tilt even further

And the Vacuum phase. Where the spacecraft is pretty much out of Earth's atmosphere and the boosters accelerate to push the spacecraft into orbit

Edit: Oh yeah, the whole point of these phases are to guide the spacecraft in a direction to achieve orbit. If your question isn't referring to orbit, then I have no idea.