1. THE SPACE SHUTTLE

3. Shuttle Take Off T-31s ground computer system hands over to shuttle system T-16s sound suppression system soaks the launch pad with water – prevents sound and heat energy damaging the shuttle T-10s Hydrogen igniters are activated T-6.6s three space shuttle main engines start up. All three must reach 100% thrust in 3 seconds T-0s solid rocket boosters ignite. This is point of no return, they cannot be switched off

4. The exit tubes for the three main space shuttle engines.

5. During re-entry the shuttle gets very hot – reaching temperatures up to 1500 o C Thrusters reduce speed slightly from orbit speed of 28,000 km/h Shuttle enters atmosphere inclined at 40 o to slow down – this is 120 km above Earth The shuttle flies in big S-shaped curves to slow down dramatically in the thicker air of the atmosphere 12 km from the runway and 3 km high, the shuttle deploys its flaps to slow from 682 km/h to 346 km/h A typical jet plane touches down at 260 km/h

6. A big parachute is deployed when the shuttle touches down and detaches automatically when the shuttle has slowed to 110 km/h The shuttle brakes until it comes to a full stop and needs to rest a few minutes to cool down before the crew can leave

7. Weather Conditions No rain at the launch pad or on the flight path No lightning within 5 nautical miles No lightning causing clouds within 10 nautical miles No cloud cover at all up to 2,500m Wind of less than 30 knots Previous 24 hours must have an average temperature above 5 o C Temperature on the day must remain between 5 o C and 37 o C.

8. EARTH and the SUN The Earth is 149,600,000 km away from the Sun To get there on the shuttle would take 5,343 hours or 223 days

9. EARTH and the SOLAR SYSTEM EDGE The Earth is 13 billion km from the edge of the solar system To travel there on the shuttle would take 464,286 hours or 19,345 days or 53 years

10. EARTH and the NEAREST STAR The nearest star to Earth is called Proxima Centauri (also known as Alpha Centauri C) Proxima Centauri is now 4.24 light years from Earth If we travelled there in a shuttle it would take 1,432,635,429 hours or 59,693,143 days or 163,543 years

11. What if we took a faster space-craft? Voyager I travels at 62,000 km/h To get to the sun would take 100.5 days To get to the edge of the solar system would take 24 years To get to Proxima Centauri would now take 74,000 years

12. What if we took a faster space-craft? Helios 2 has set a record for space travel, going at 253,000 km/h To get to the sun would now take 25 days To get to the edge of the solar system would take 5.9 years To get to Proxima Centauri would now take 18,000 years

13. Not as far away as it seems Space seems a long way away right now. BUT: Humanity has come a long way very fast in 50 years we went from the first flight ever to putting a man on the moon We can travel 1000 times as fast now as we could then Who knows where we’ll be in another 50 years?