Space Shuttle orbiting question.

[rob justice]

Todays office discussion:-

When in orbit - the space shuttle always flies upside down relative to earth, why is this so?

Possible answers:-

1. - the get better pictures of earth!

2. - the underside protects the crew against radiation.

Does anyone know the real answer???

[Superman]

Without gravity, there is no "upside down." One possible reason for the inverted position might be to give the 'nauts a better view, as you say. Good question. I'm just pointing out that every potential position for the craft is equivalent to every other position. Upside down is not an "odd" position. It's not even really upside down.

[AFJuvat]

I remember something about better view, and to shield the cargo bay doors - the doors are always open to radiate heat.

AFJuvat

[id10t]

One of the things I read in a sci-fi book was that we need to be able to create our own artifical horizon, so we don't get too disoriented by zero gravity. Besides giving a nice view, being able to reference the earth as being "down" may help psychologically.

[304065]

Uhh, without gravity there IS no orbit.

From one helpful web site:

Unless it has to be repositioned to complete a specific task, most of the time the shuttle orbits the earth "upside down" with its two cargo bay doors wide open. This means the cargo bay faces the earth and the black protective tiles along the bottom of the orbiter face away from the earth. The open bay is part of the shuttle's method of keeping cool. If the shuttle is delivering or retrieving a satellite, it will fly "right-side-up". If it needs to dock with the space station, it will fly with its nose pointed away from the earth.

http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/sts_orbit.htm

[rob justice]

Cheers for that John - sounds spot-on.

[JavaBrewer]

Don't they also orbit with the tail leading the way? I recall reading they do that to protect the front from space debris which is pretty common.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I'd say it probably has to do with solar radiation...

As for why it flies backward, one guess would be that in order for the shuttle to re-enter the atomosphere, it needs to fire the two engines on the back opposing the direction of which it is travelling. This slows down the shuttle, the orbit decays and it slowly gets pulled down. They then simply flip it over onto it's belly and re-enter..

Those thermal tiles are really cool.. I saw a demonstration of one a few years ago where a guy heated one with a torch until it was glowing, and then picked it up with his bare hand.. Neat stuff...

[bell]

i remember a special where they explained how they use the space shuttle to block "space garbage and debris" when the astronauts are space walking, kind of like a big shield........
that's all i got

[Porsche-O-Phile]

It flies "backwards" so it's in position to fire its OMS engines for descent & re-entry. The OMS engines are the two little ones on the "pods" on either side of the tail - IIRC each one produces about 6,000 pounds of thrust. These fire opposite the direction of motion to slow the orbiter enough to decay its orbital speed and cause it to begin to "fall" back to Earth. It could fly in any orientation as has been said, but I suppose having it in that position as a default is kind of a precaution in case of an RCS system failure (Reaction Control System - the "manuvering jets".