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Space Shuttle |
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Space Shuttle | Atmosphere and Spacecraft | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) | Airplane Rocket Wings
A space shuttle glides back to Earth without engine power and lands on a conventional airplane runway. The shuttle uses a parachute to slow down its landing speed. (Space Shuttle, Atmosphere and Spacecraft, National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA, Airplane Rocket Wings) The space shuttle, flown by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is an aircraft unlike any other because it flies as a fixed-wing airplane within the atmosphere and as a spacecraft outside Earth’s atmosphere. When the space shuttle takes off, it flies like a rocket with wings, relying on the 3,175 metric tons of thrust generated by its solid-fuel rocket boosters and liquid-fueled main engines to power its way up, through, and out of the atmosphere. During landing, the shuttle becomes the world’s most sophisticated glider, landing without propulsion. (Space Shuttle, Atmosphere and Spacecraft, National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA, Airplane Rocket Wings) |
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