UPDATE: Sigh. Launch scrubbed due to liquid hydrogen leak. Next window for launch is July 11. Stay tuned…
Yup, NASA does it (or more accurately is doing it) again…
Photo courtesy NASA
But how big is the Endeavor really?
- Putting a scale on it, if a six foot person were to stand next to the entire shuttle assembly (boosters, external tank, etc.), that would be roughly the same as laying a penny on a table and standing your thumb next to it and referencing to the web of your hand. How does it feel to be a penny?
- The Endeavor weighs 4.5 million pounds at takeoff… So what does 4.5 million pounds mean? That’s 2,250 small cars sitting on the launch pad.
- And the power needed to drive a beast like that? Let’s put it this way… If there were to be a catastrophic failure at liftoff, the resulting crater would probably be roughly 600′ in diameter and resemble the remains of a small nuclear weapon. (Check out: http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/68750/view/?service=0)
- How fast does the vehicle go… Zero to 17,000 mph in about nine minutes.
Yup, the upcoming shuttle launch is a very big deal indeed… Don’t forget that you can watch it on NASA TV…
Alan Speakman
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