Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: WLJ on March 10, 2019, 01:55:17 PM
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I think they're cool as
Riding the Booster with enhanced sound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aCOyOvOw5c
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Absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring. Thanks.
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Cool. Thanks.
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Phantasmagorically spectacular!!! Thanks for posting this! ;)
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Thank you for posting.
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I did kind of wince when I saw ice chunks impacting the leading edge of the wings.
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I did kind of wince when I saw ice chunks impacting the leading edge of the wings.
If you're referring to the objects you see falling starting at 0:33 those are paper seals they put into the RCS (reaction control system) to keep water and other objects out of the nozzles. They are usually pulled out by the slipstream during launch, there are over the nose camera launch shots where you can see this happening in more detail. BTW, the reason they used paper is that if any still remain in a nozzle after entering orbit the first blast out of the RCS would take care of it. I seem to recall there's also video of that. Also paper is less likely to do damage.
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The nose RCS
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Shuttle_front_RCS.jpg/800px-Shuttle_front_RCS.jpg)
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Wow. Super-interesting that they separated at 28 miles and continue drifting to an apogee of 41 miles. The amount of speed they gained after beginning descent was way more than I would have expected. Also, hitting the water at roughly 65 MPH would seem to be an awfully rough landing. I would think a couple of high-tonnage hollow tubes would fold like paper under those forces.
Brad