space faq mission schedules archive name space schedule last modified date space shuttle answers launch schedules tv coverage shuttle launchings and landings schedules and how to see them shuttle operations are discussed in the usenet group sci space shuttle and ken hollis gandalf pro electric cts com posts a compressed version of the shuttle manifest launch dates and other information periodically there the manifest is also available from the ames space archive in space faq manifest the portion of his manifest formerly included in this faq has been removed please refer to his posting or the archived copy for the most up to date information on upcoming missions call info at kennedy space center official nasa shuttle status reports are posted to sci space news frequently why does the shuttle roll just after liftoff the following answer and translation are provided by ken jenks kjenks gothamcity jsc nasa gov the ascent guidance and flight control training manual asc g c says during the vertical rise phase the launch pad attitude is commanded until an i loaded v rel sufficient to assure launch tower clearance is achieved then the tilt maneuver roll program orients the vehicle to a heads down attitude required to generate a negative q alpha which in turn alleviates structural loading other advantages with this attitude are performance gain decreased abort maneuver complexity improved s band look angles and crew view of the horizon the tilt maneuver is also required to start gaining downrange velocity to achieve the main engine cutoff meco target in second stage this really is a good answer but it s couched in nasa jargon i ll try to interpret we wait until the shuttle clears the tower before rolling then we roll the shuttle around so that the angle of attack between the wind caused by passage through the atmosphere the relative wind and the chord of the wings the imaginary line between the leading edge and the trailing edge is a slightly negative angle a negative q alpha this causes a little bit of downward force toward the belly of the orbiter or the z direction and this force alleviates structural loading we have to be careful about those wings they re about the most delicate part of the vehicle the new attitude after the roll also allows us to carry more mass to orbit or to achieve a higher orbit with the same mass or to change the orbit to a higher or lower inclination than would be the case if we didn t roll performance gain the new attitude allows the crew to fly a less complicated flight path if they had to execute one of the more dangerous abort maneuvers the return to launch site decreased abort maneuver complexity the new attitude improves the ability for ground based radio antennae to have a good line of sight signal with the s band radio antennae on the orbiter improved s band look angles the new attitude allows the crew to see the horizon which is a helpful but not mandatory part of piloting any flying machine the new attitude orients the shuttle so that the body is more nearly parallel with the ground and the nose to the east usually this allows the thrust from the engines to add velocity in the correct direction to eventually achieve orbit remember velocity is a vector quantity made of both speed and direction the shuttle has to have a large horizontal component to its velocity and a very small vertical component to attain orbit this all begs the question why isn t the launch pad oriented to give this nice attitude to begin with why does the shuttle need to roll to achieve that attitude the answer is that the pads were leftovers from the apollo days the shuttle straddles two flame trenches one for the solid rocket motor exhaust one for the space shuttle main engine exhaust you can see the effects of this on any daytime launch the srm exhaust is dirty gray garbage and the ssme exhaust is fluffy white steam watch for the difference between the top orbiter side and the bottom external tank side of the stack the access tower and other support and service structure are all oriented basically the same way they were for the saturn v s a side note the saturn v s also had a roll program don t ask me why i m a shuttle guy i checked with a buddy in ascent dynamics he added that the roll maneuver is really a maneuver in all three axes roll pitch and yaw the roll component of that maneuver is performed for the reasons stated the pitch component controls loading on the wings by keeping the angle of attack q alpha within a tight tolerance the yaw component is used to determine the orbital inclination the total maneuver is really expressed as a quaternion a grad level math concept for combining all three rotation matrices in one four element array how to receive the nasa tv channel nasa select nasa select is broadcast by satellite if you have access to a satellite dish you can find select on satcom f r transponder c band degrees west longitude audio frequency mhz f r is stationed over the atlantic and is increasingly difficult to receive from california and points west during events of special interest e g shuttle missions select is sometimes broadcast on a second satellite for these viewers if you can t get a satellite feed some cable operators carry select it s worth asking if yours doesn t the select schedule is found in the nasa headline news which is frequently posted to sci space news generally it carries press conferences briefings by nasa officials and live coverage of shuttle missions and planetary encounters select has recently begun carrying much more secondary material associated with spacelink when missions are not being covered amateur radio frequencies for shuttle missions the following are believed to rebroadcast space shuttle mission audio w fxn los angeles k mf ames research center mountain view california wa nan goddard space flight center gsfc greenbelt maryland w rrr johnson space center jsc houston texas w vio jet propulsion laboratory jpl pasadena california w aw voice bulletins station vhf m m m m m w fxn k mf wa nan w rrr w vio w vio w aw w rrr transmits mission audio on a special event station on the other frequencies supplying keplerian elements and mission information w aw also transmits on no mission audio but they transmit voice bulletins at and utc frequencies in the m bands require usb and frequencies in the and m bands lsb use fm for the vhf frequencies this item was most recently updated courtesy of gary morris g telesoft com kk yb n qwc solid rocket booster fuel composition reference shuttle flight operations manual volume b solid rocket booster systems nasa document jsc propellant composition percent ammonium perchlorate oxidizer aluminum iron oxide burn rate catalyst polybutadiene acrilic acid acrylonitrile a rubber epoxy curing agent end reference comment the aluminum rubber and epoxy all burn with the oxidizer next faq historical planetary probes
