Our Shuttle Legacy
Shuttle Amazing Facts
A timed exposure of the Space Shuttle, STS-1, at Launch Pad A, Complex 39, turns the space vehicle and support facilities into a night- time fantasy of light. Structures to the left of the Shuttle are the fixed and the rotating service structure. (Boeing photo)
- The space shuttle has more than 2,500,000 parts, including about 170 miles of wire, more than 1,060 plumbing valves and connections, about 1,440 circuit breakers, and more than 24,000 insulating tiles and thermal blankets. It is the most complex machine ever built.
- Although it weighs more than 4,500,000 lb at launch, the space shuttle accelerates from zero to about nine times as fast as a rifle bullet, or more than 17,500 mph, to attain Earth orbit in less than nine minutes, during which time more than 3,500,000 lb of propellants are completely consumed. The shuttle breaks the sound barrier 52 seconds into flight.
- The orbiter, both the brains and heart of the Space Transportation System, is about the same size as a Boeing 737 aircraft. The cargo bay measures 60 feet by 15 feet in diameter and can carry cargo up to 65,000 lb.
- The shuttle's 24,000 individual tiles are made primarily of pure sand silicate fibers, mixed with a ceramic binder. Incredibly lightweight and about the same density as balsa wood, they dissipate the heat so quickly that a white-hot tile with a temperature of 2,300°F can be taken from an oven and held in bare hands without injury.
- Two orbital maneuvering system (OMS) engines, mounted on either side of the upper aft fuselage, provide thrust for major orbital changes. For more exacting motions in orbit, 44 small rocket engines, clustered on the shuttle's nose and on either side of the tail, are used. Together, they are known as the reaction control system.
- Temperatures experienced by the space shuttle range from as low as -250°F in space to as high as 3,000°F during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere while traveling more than 17,000 mph.
- At 149-feet, 1.6-inches tall, the solid rocket booster is only two feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, but each 700-ton loaded booster weighs more than three times as much as the famous statue. The SRBs, which burn solid propellant, provide more than 83 percent of the space shuttle's thrust during the first two minutes of ascent. The two SRBs generate a combined thrust of 5.3 million lb, equivalent to 44 million horsepower.
- The 15-story-tall, rust-colored external tank is the only shuttle element that isn't reused. Despite its size, the aluminum skin of the tank is only 0.125-inch thick in most areas. It feeds more than 500,000 gallons of fuel to the shuttle's main engines during launch at the rate of more than 1,000 gallons per second.
- If the shuttle main engines pumped water instead of fuel, they would drain an average-size swimming pool in 25 seconds.