Facts about the Space Shuttle and NASA

Did you know that?

The runway at the Kennedy Space Center is 15,000 ft long and 300 feet wide!
The Shuttle lands at 217 miles per hour - that’s 8 miles per second!
The Shuttle orbits the Earth in 1.5 hours
It takes 45 minutes for the Shuttle to land once entering the atmosphere
For every pound of weight sent into space it takes an additional 100 pounds of fuel
When astronauts take a shower, they vacuum the soap and water off their body
The Shuttle travels at 17,500 miles per hour … that’s 10 times faster that a bullet.
The names astronaut and cosmonaut are both translated as star voyager

NASA is extremely kid friendly. If you have time to check out the SPACE PLACE at NASA do so.

So what’s in the future for NASA? The Moon, Mars and Beyond (or as Buzz Lightyear would say, “To infinity and Beyond!”) The space shuttle missions end in 2010. The next project is under way, it will use the Orion rocket vehicle. In 2020 the first flights will be going back to the Moon. From the Moon a base will be set up to explore the Moon and then on to Mars and then … Beyond. I asked the question, “Why the moon? We’ve already been there?” I found out that if the volume of the space shuttle cargo bay (15’ x 15’ x 60’) were filled Helium 3, there would be enough stored energy in it to supply the United States for 200 years. Good idea! But NASA faces a huge problem … they need college students who major in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Hey – that could be you!