The Insane Engineering of Orbit

Links to everything I do:

Credits:
Producer/Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus
Head of Production: Mike Ridolfi
Senior Editor: Dylan Hennessy
Research Assistant: Josi Gold
Animator: Eli Prenten
Animator: Stijn Orlans
Sound and Production Coordinator: Graham Haerther
Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster
Head of Moral: Shia LeWoof

References:

Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Thank you to my patreon supporters: Abdullah Alotaibi, Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[withoutstickers]

One thing a lot of people get wrong is that the idea that the shuttle was in orbit when it dropped the tank. When the engines shut down the tank and the shuttle were on the same orbital trajectory that intersected the atmosphere. This meant the shuttle had to boost itself at the highest point of its orbit using the OMS to avoiding reentering the atmosphere with the tank.

[FutureAIDev]

14:50 "as Goddard intended" that was hilarious!

[MrSwitzerland]

please do more space-themed engineering! absolutely love this

[danielmartinezf]

I just presented my Launch Systems final project a few hours ago and I can absolutely tell you that rocket science is on a whole different level. The level of detail that goes into every aspect of these vehicles is just amazing and every single aspect is painstakingly scrutinized to a level the general public has never seen

[AnyWayICan]

The final push into orbit is not from the main engines, but from the orbital maneuvering system (OMS). If the orbiter was in orbit at main engine cutoff (MECO) then the jettisoned tank would remain in orbit rather than burning up in the atmosphere.

[bholdr----]

Absolutely fascinating. I enjoyed how the vid used the story of one interesting and challenging mission to illustrate many of the functions and capabilities of the entire shuttle system-of-systems.

[davetremaine]

The Space Shuttle had it's faults, but man what a beautiful iconic machine. When the world came together to make the ISS America came to the table with a combination of an airplane, a school bus, and a pick up truck.

[MaxBrix]

The shuttle had 2, 500, 000 moving parts. The challenge of managing that many points of failure is absurd.

[Sam_]

"As Goddard intended"
Solid gold line

[wolfbd]

14:45 "...allowing any two spacecraft to dock together, as Goddard intended." Thank you for this - it made me burst out laughing in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

[Phriedah]

I got your subtle joke at 14:50, "As Goddard intended" - well done.

[TheHatManCole]

Could you do a video on the insane engineering of the LM? I find this ship so meaningful because it is the only craft ever designed to carry humans to fly only in 0 atmosphere conditions, which is why it looks so weird. I think this is very meaningful to engineering history because the fact that we needed a ship to carry people in 0 atmosphere conditions says a lot about how far we have come as a species. Thank you.

[mikedicenso]

@ 11:25 The Chandra/IUS stack was not the maximum limit for the Shuttle fleet in general, only for OV-102 Columbia, which was 3.6 metric tons heavier than her newer sisters, and it was Columbia that flew that mission since she was the only orbiter at the time that had not been outfitted with an external airlock and therefore was capable of holding the 56 foot (17 meter) stack in her payload bay. As it was, the mission was only possible for Columbia because of the recent introduction of the super lightweight aluminum-lithium external tanks, which shaved off 8, 000 lbs (3.6 mt) in mass from the overall Shuttle launch stack and therefore added a roughly equivalent amount to the payload mass to orbit.

[neoanderson]

The Shuttle was truly a feat of engineering. Kudos to the crew involved in telling a great piece of history.

[franosbornblaschke]

"As Goddard intended." Well-played! : )

[ykqiijw]

Love the job you do and all the details you bring to these videos. I feel like you're the only one on you tube I watch that the quality of the videos has stayed the same and not degraded with commercials. I have joined nebula just to support these videos. Keep up the great videos.

[ivanstojanac]

Loving this series. Can't wait for the next episode. "How to land the space shuttle... from space" is one of my favourite videos on youtube so i would love to learn more about the engineering behind the landing

[Spartan]

The more I learn about the shuttle, the more I'm surprised how well every single part was thought out.
They even had covers for the flight sticks! And the capture mechanism on the Canadarm is just 💯

[Chriss]

This truly deserves a mini series.
Your videos are always great to watch, good job.

[sethandrew]

Can’t wait for part 3, these have been so good