Space shuttle is mainly made from three parts – a winged orbiter, an external fuel tank, and two solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
At lift–off, the orbiter's main engines and the SRBs all fire together. Two minutes later, the SRBs separate and parachute back to Earth to be used again. About six minutes later, the external fuel tank separates and breaks up in the Earth's atmosphere. The winged orbiter uses its orbital manouevring system (OMS) to reach the correct orbit.
After its mission, the orbiter returns to Earth unpowered, like a glider. It lands on a runway, and uses a parachute as a brake. |
 |
