AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Space shuttle cockpit landing gear1/11/2024 ![]() Deployment could occur within a range of speeds, with procedural preference for 195 knots, although not higher than around 230 knots.As a brand new citizen of the 'verse, the information here will be essential to getting around and exploring.įrom the main menu, there are three game modes available: Universe, Star Marine and Arena Commander. Right from the start, it was intended that the chute could be employed on both lakebed and concrete runways, except in cases of crosswinds above 15 knots or repositioning problems involving the SSME bells. Trailing the vehicle as it barreled down to the runway, the chute would finally be jettisoned at 60 knots ground-speed to avoid damaging the bells of the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) just below it. The chute was housed in a compartment pod at the base of the shuttle’s vertical stabilizer and would be manually deployed by the pilot prior to “derotation” of the nose landing gear down to the runway. The tests were conducted using the NASA NB-52 carrier aircraft, piloted by former shuttle commander Gordon Fullerton and flown to an altitude of some 40,000 feet (12,000 meters).ĭesign requirementsd for the chute included an ability to bring a 248,000-pound (112,500 kg) shuttle to a complete halt within 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) with a ten-knot tail-wind and on a hot day, maximum braking at 140 knots ground-speed and with daytime temperatures of up to 39.4 degrees Celsius (103 degrees Fahrenheit). It was noted that the new system would serve a two-fold purpose: supplementing the orbiter’s brakes to help slow its speed after touchdown, affording it the possibility to land safely in a shorter distance on the runway and reducing the likelihood of tire and brake wear. In July 1990, NASA announced the start of drag chute tests at the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards. And the drag chute was reconsidered, too. After Challenger, efforts entered high gear to implement “arresting barriers” as additional safety mechanisms on shuttle runways and skids were considered for the landing gear to permit a “roll-on-rim” capability to achieve a predictable roll in the event of tire losses. The destruction of Challenger and the tragic loss of her STS-51L crew scuppered that brave hope and it was not until November 1990 that another shuttle crew made landfall on the Florida coast. Initial drag chute trials were conducted with the NB-52 aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in the summer of 1990. However, in 1974 the concept was deleted from consideration in the knowledge that vast expanse of dry lakebed available at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.- the principal landing site for those early test flights-would prove more than suitable for adequate braking during touchdown and rollout. Right from the outset of its development in the early 1970s, it was intended that the shuttle would utilize such a system during its first four Orbital Flight Tests (OFTs). ![]() Thirty years ago this week, in January 1991, NASA awarded contracts to Rockwell International Corp.’s Space Division to implement one such technology: a technology that would take shuttle safety to new levels and become an instantly recognizable piece of its functional hardware: the “drag chute”.īut the idea of a braking parachute to assist with slowing the orbiter on the runway was by no means a new one. ![]() It would be foolhardy to think that shuttle landings were ever routine and their inherent dangers prompted the development of complex technologies to keep the vehicles and their crews safe. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |