Ask OWL: Space Shuttle Edition!
Hey! Here’s a great question I wish we could’ve featured in our “Ask OWL” story in November: “How exactly does the space shuttle get to the launch pad?”
I was just poking around on the NASA website, and it turns out the answer is this: very slowly. Check it out:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN1oTIOVWko]
Funny, huh? It takes six hours for the shuttle to travel 5 km (3 mi.) to the launch site, and only about eight minutes to reach orbit after it launches. It travels to the launch pad at speeds no greater than 1.6 km/h (1 mph), and it travels to space at speeds of about 28,000 km/h (17,500 mph)!
Also, to get you guys even more pumped up for the upcoming space mission — Atlantis takes off for the Hubble Space Telescope on May 12 — here’s a clip from a launch in 2006.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8axV56ujY&feature=related]
Blast off!
Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com
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Cool, but the first video was no longer available.
Thanks, Katie! That’s weird â it’s working for Mandy and me. Anyone else having problems? I can try re-posting…
Whoa, it takes a long time to move the rocket. By the way, how many times can you enter the Comic Contest Craig???? Only once?
no it works
Hey Sydney. Enter as many times as you like. The more entries, the better!
im almost done the news paper braclet. i cant wait to see how it looks like
Katie, the same thing happened to me with the ‘best football play ever!’ clip, and the next day it was working, so try tomorrow.
mailbag!!!!!1111
Thanks! I’ll probably enter three times!!
Today the video works, yay! Sinead, I read your comment too late, I watched it, then read your comment.
Once, I had a dream that my mom and I were going to take off in a space shuttle from my front yard, but then I decided not to, because I was too scared.
That was very cool.
My brother calculated that if the shuttle goes at 28,000 km/hour, it travels at 90 feet/second!
OMG!!! i just went to NASA!!! i was at that place!!! that is such a conwinceadence (i suck at spelling)
do you mean coincidence? (confession, i used spell check)