Shuttle Undock...

[DaveB]

Good idea Jonesey. Make sure you can stream it live to the forum though

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[AlexP]

Just got home from work in time to watch BBC News 24’s coverage of the Shuttle landing. I was wondering what that noise and the venting shown on the IR view was, it sounded like a steam train. Thanks Peter.

Alex

[Chris Trott]

That is the Shuttle APUs. Unlike on an airplane where the APU is a small jet turbine, on the shuttle it's a fuel cell (Hydrogen & Liquid Oxygen are combined to make water) and it creates that noise and "steam" from the rear of the vehicle.

[DaveB]

Tks for the further explanation Chris. I'd sure never heard an APU like that before!

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[jonesey2k]

So it wasn't the warp engines cooling down?

[petermcleland]

There are three of those APUs on the shuttle and they start one before the de-orbit burn and the other two just after. They provide hydraulic power for the aerodynamic flight controls which become effective as the atmosphere is entered...then they shut down the little jet thrusters that they use for attitude control while in space.

I like your hat Jonesey

[jonesey2k]

I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to comment on that I picked it up in Vegas a while ago for a laugh but it doesn't half keep your head warm/cool

*edit* About the comment of my machine being busy, I've got a dual core cpu so what I do is force FS9 to run on one of the cores and then force everything else including all of the system processes to run on the second core. I can watch DVD's ect while flying the long sectors without any performance hit

[jonesey2k]

Here is a picture of the damage that the spacecraft sustained during launch from a foam strike:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/1872 ... pd2305.jpg

I would have thought they would have tried fixing it before coming down after what happened last time...

[petermcleland]

Here is a picture of the damage that the spacecraft sustained during launch from a foam strike:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/1872 ... pd2305.jpg

I would have thought they would have tried fixing it before coming down after what happened last time...

Yes, I saw the scan picture they made while docked to the ISS...They went into it in great detail, modelled things and conferred and came to the conclusion that it would not get worse and they turned out to be right. I think we should remember that all shuttle flights suffer some damage and we don't hear about most of it...They had a large database of actual damage that has occurred in the past to compare with while considering their decision. Also they considered that making a repair under there would be a risky procedure in itself. I also watched the very detailed scanning of the Carbon-Carbon wing leading edges and the nose, and it became apparent that they had a massive data base of those areas which included every single scratch and nick.

[FlyTexas]

I'm just happy that they made it back in one piece. I was standing outside of my home over 4 years ago watching Columbia as it passed overhead shedding pieces during re-entry...a sight I shall never forget. Rest in peace crew of STS-107.

Brian