How did the SPACE SHUTTLE fly to EARTH??? #shorts

Did you know the space shuttle was gliding back to Earth like a sailplane? 
The space shuttle is a marvel of engineering and was also the fastest sailplane. After re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, the space shuttle had no engines to correct for its descent path. Instead, it glided in one large turn towards Earth at a glide slope angle of 18-22 degrees. The average airline jet establishes itself on a 3-degree glide slope for landing. Pilots trained that approach manoeuvre multiple times in the simulator, but most of the time, the autopilot did most of the descent path corrections and landing!
I hope you enjoyed this video and learned a little aviation fact for today! More to come tomorrow!
Wishing you all the best!
Joe

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[ArmyGrunt]

Fun fact: NASA stated "The shuttle has the flying characteristics of a brick"

To train to fly/land the shuttle NASA modified a Gulfstream Jet to be able to reverse its engines in flight and operated with two sets of main landing wheels. NASA said that to match the shuttle’s descent rate and drag profile at 37, 000 feet, the main landing gear was lowered, and the engine thrust was reversed. Plus,  flaps would be deflected upwards to decrease lift"

So to call it a glider would be almost like calling a Honda Civic a glider.

[michaelmurray]

Space Shuttle: “This isn’t flying, this is falling with style.”

[Voltikz]

It's a stretch to call it gliding... even the astronauts who flew her called her a brick with wings because she essentially just fell out of the sky 😂

Edited to solely refer to the shuttle as "she" since someone felt the need to point out Shuttles have no gender 👍

[mitchellminer]

Rumor has it that the shuttle could have completely landed itself, but NASA left the landing gear switch for the astronauts to flip.

[LRS]

"You can't butter a space shuttle"
Damn sure you can

[GAireg]

There is this beautifull talk "how to land a spcaeshuttle... from space". It concludes with a realtime recording of a landing. In 3.5 Minutes from 37000 Feet to Touchdown. Mindblowing

[samgarnett]

Always amazed me that after weeks in space sometimes the astronaut can land it so smoothly (compared to Southwest Airlines or Ryanair).

[Youssef-qmny]

Imagine how relieved the pilots were after landing safely on earth.

[maggiemartin]

🥰 I'm a Big Nasa fan, miss seeing the Shuttles coming back from space, on T.V...😍 What a Era 💕

[pizzlerot]

For anyone who missed that, the 18 to 22 degree glide angle he mentioned is CRAZY steep. When most people think of gliding, they think of floating on air at an angle of a few degrees at most. In comparison, the shuttle was basically in a controlled *plummet* from several hundred kilometers or more up, weighing 2.2 MILLION kilograms (250 miles and 4.5 million pounds, in freedom units). The fact that it managed to land safely time after time after time is an incredible testament to the skills, training, and technology required to do so. Blows my freaking mind, man.

[ramyg]

That moment when your shuttle lands on earth must be feeling good for the astronauts

[lavatr]

Its alwasy fascinating for me how perfectly they did the Math...
Because if it misses the runway or descent angle.... everything is gone...

[rhino]

I was lucky enough to see Challenger piggybacking on a 747 at Dulles Airport in like 1983 or 84

[winterflight]

Fun fact 2: because the shuttle had no engines, go around was not possible. If they did need to go around, they would stay in a relatively straight line until they got clearance to land at a runway in the shuttles path

[greenesyt]

And the final approach and landing is always done by qualified Ryanair pilots.

[unclejack]

My father was one of the Engineer s that designed it . Rockwell .

[themomentchannel]

it actually was a terrible glider because of its small wings, the only thing that allowed the tiny wings to atleast generate a bit of lift was the enormous speed the shuttle was descending with.

[peteranninos]

Technically, a Sailplane is capable of riding forces like thermals and ridge-lift to stay aloft and gain altitude. The Shuttle was a hypersonic glider. Big difference. And yes, an amazing machine!

[sanitasfitness]

The required precision given the speed at which the shuttle came in was simply mind-boggling especially that there was no chance for a go-around!

[Taketimeout]

Truly a marvel of the Universe. How many other planets have machines that can go into space and return again and again.