Space Shuttle - Riding the Booster

[TonyToniTone]

An amazing video of the life of a rocket booster, up and down in 400 seconds.

From the upcoming Special Edition Ascent: Commemorating Space Shuttle DVD/BluRay a movie from the point of view of the Solid Rocket Booster with sound mixing and enhancement done by the folks at Skywalker Sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aCOyOvOw5c

[Nuclearsquash]

Brilliant video, the transition from sub to super sonic is excellent.

[Simpo Two]

Very good!

Altitude would have been handy.

[Eric Mc]

Read "Riding Rockets" by Mike Mullane. Puts you right into the Shuttle era and all its dangers.

[anonymous-user]

Does anyone know what splashes down a little bit before the main booster (with the camera on) ? You see the splash off the right of the screen. Perhaps it is the nose cone assy that housed the arrester system before deployment of the main chute?

[kiteless]

Good find

I really enjoyed that.

[Regiment]

Max_Torque said:

Does anyone know what splashes down a little bit before the main booster (with the camera on) ? You see the splash off the right of the screen. Perhaps it is the nose cone assy that housed the arrester system before deployment of the main chute?

I thought it was the other solid rocket booster?

[anonymous-user]

I thought that too, but you then see the "other" booster splash down some distance away. I guess it's footage from 2 different flights, so maybe it's a bit of an editing error?

[Eric Mc]

They splash down quite a bit apart. I think it is the protective cap that covered the parachute housing.

[Brigand]

Cracking video that, was a bit spooky when they were at the top of their climb and all was silent apart from the creaking metal, you can really tell they're just empty tubes by that point.

[TheHeretic]

The best bit was when the giant space jellyfish tried to grab them as they fell.

Great vid! Always amazes me how second hand the bottom of the shuttle always looks!

[Gaffer]

2 things:
at 5:00 what is that other smoke trail that goes past the booster we are watching..?
How are they falling to earth if they are "in space"..? gravity..? if it is gravity why do Spacemen need to be tied up so they dont float off..?

Might be really simple answers that my brain is just not processing.

Claire

[ccr32]

Gaffer said:

2 things:
at 5:00 what is that other smoke trail that goes past the booster we are watching..?
How are they falling to earth if they are "in space"..? gravity..? if it is gravity why do Spacemen need to be tied up so they dont float off..?

Might be really simple answers that my brain is just not processing.

Claire

Can't really comment on the video yet as cannot watch it here, but I imagine it is the Orbiter and ET (big orange fuel tank).

As for the boosters falling to earth, you said it - gravity. Everything that's 'up there' wants to come back down. The only reason why spacemen (and women!), spacecraft, satellites and such like do not fall back to earth is because they are travelling around the globe (about 17,500mph IIRC) at the same rate at which gravity is pulling them back down - this is when an object is said to be in orbit.

[Eric Mc]

Gaffer said:

2 things:
at 5:00 what is that other smoke trail that goes past the booster we are watching..?
How are they falling to earth if they are "in space"..? gravity..? if it is gravity why do Spacemen need to be tied up so they dont float off..?

Might be really simple answers that my brain is just not processing.

Claire

If you stepped off a 40 mile high tower, you would fall straight down just as you would if you stepped off a 40 foot tower.

These boosters have "only" gone about 40 miles high, almost straight up. As soon as they shut off and are jettisoned they coast on up for another few miles, gradually slowing down until they stop climbing and then start falling back down again.

It's no different to what happens if you are pedalling up a hill on a bicycle. Once you stop pedalling, the bike starts slowing and eventually it will coast to a stop - and then start freewheeling back down the hill.

[ccr32]

Eric Mc said:

Read "Riding Rockets" by Mike Mullane. Puts you right into the Shuttle era and all its dangers.

Seconded - I read it on Eric's recommendation on here previously and couldn't put it down.

[Eric Mc]

It's good, isn't it. It really highlights how flakey the whole Shuttle concept was.

[ccr32]

Eric Mc said:

It's good, isn't it. It really highlights how flakey the whole Shuttle concept was.

Indeed, and yet despite this and all of the dangers involved, no one would ever turn down the opportunity to fly it.

I know I (and many others) have read about the management at NASA before, but reading this I really did find some of the attitudes that they displayed absolutely astonishing.

[Eric Mc]

I think the term is "sclerotic" i.e. management has become rigid and unimaginative and unwilling to change.

Although it was an incredible machine, it was massively flawed.

[Guffy]

Eric Mc said:

As soon as they shut off and are jettisoned they coast on up for another few miles, gradually slowing down until they stop climbing and then start falling back down again.

Great video!

Thing is, after the boosters were jettisoned at 2963mph, the indicated speed dropped to 2556mph, before climbing back up to 2924mph in freefall and then dropping off again as it slowed down through the atmosphere and into the sea.

I was expecting the boosters speed to drop to 0mph at the top of an arc as you described?

[andy_s]

Guffy said:

Great video!

Thing is, after the boosters were jettisoned at 2963mph, the indicated speed dropped to 2556mph, before climbing back up to 2924mph in freefall and then dropping off again as it slowed down through the atmosphere and into the sea.

I was expecting the boosters speed to drop to 0mph at the top of an arc as you described?

Isn't that because it's the apogee of a curved trajectory rather than just up and down?