EXPLORE THE SPACE HANGAR DISCOVER SPACECRAFT in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center CHOOSE your favorite space exploration vehicle when you finish. USE the map on page 10 to find them. Goddard 1935 A Series rocket A B C D LOOK FOR: A The nose cone. How does the shape of the nose cone on the A Series rocket compare to nose cones on nearby rockets? Top: Goddard A Series rocket; insets of Goddard holding rocket and Goddard Is it sharper, blunter, or the same? postage stamp B The window on the rocket near the nose cone. What can you see inside? ■ liquid fuel tank ■ parachute ■ computer C The vanes. The vanes/tail fins help to stabilize the rocket in flight. How many vanes are on the Goddard A Series rocket? ■ 2 ■ 3 ■ 4 ■ 6 D The nozzle(s). The exhaust nozzles squeeze gases out producing a force/thrust that pushes the rocket forward. The Goddard A Series rocket had a thrust of 900 newtons, N, (200 lb). Each of the three Space Shuttle engines has a thrust of 2,000,000 N (418,000 lb). How many nozzles are there on the Goddard A Series rocket? ■ 1 ■ 2 ■ 3 ■ 5 A Series launch COMPARE: Rockets from the 1940s and 50s near the Goddard A Series rocket The Corporal is 3 times as tall as the Goddard A Series rocket with a thrust of ~90,000 N (20,000 lb) and a range of 120 km (75 miles). The Regulus Cruise missile is twice as tall as the Goddard A Series rocket with a thrust of ~20,000 N (4,600 lb) and a range of 8000 km (5000 miles). The whole Nike-Ajax missile is about twice as tall as the Goddard A Series rocket. The main part of the rocket, the sustainer, is about the same size as the A Series rocket with a thrust of 11,500 N (2,600 lb) and a range of 40 km (25 miles). The Poseidon missile, built by Lockheed Martin, was launched from Poseidon Missile submarines and carried a 50 kiloton nuclear warhead. It is three times the size of the Goddard A Series rocket with a range of 5280 km (3280 miles). 2 GODDARD A SERIES ROCKET ACHIEVEMENT: the first successful rocket to travel at the speed of sound — ~1000 km/h (700 mph) — and to ascend over a mile high 14 launch attempts from 1934 to 1935 HOW TALL ARE THEY? The Goddard A Series rocket, the Redstone rocket and the Shuttle orbiter are all full-size artifacts in the Museum, 1 : 1 scale. Look at the Shuttle models under the wing of the Enterprise. Many are 1 : 200 scale. How tall would you be in 1 : 200 scale? Divide your height in cm (or inches) by 200. Rocket Height 350 ft 300 ft 250 ft 200 ft 150 ft 100 ft 50 ft Goddard Redstone- Atlas LV- Saturn V- Space Shuttle Design your own rocket. Name it! 1935 rocket Mercury 3A/Agena B Apollo Transport System 12 ft high 83 ft high 68 ft (20.7m)/ 364 ft high 175 ft high (3.7 m)] (25.5 m) 23 ft (7.1 m) (112 m) (54 m) READY? Find the thrust of each rocket. (write in pounds, lb; newtons, N) Stand near the Space ________ lb ________ lb ________440,000 lb 7,500,000________ lb ________ 7,000,000 lb Shuttle Enterprise. Picture it ready for take off, as on the ________ N ________ N ________ N ________ N ________ N front cover. Shut your eyes and imagine the sounds, rumblings, and HINT = 1 pound, lb shock waves of a 4.4 newtons, N Shuttle launch. 3 ACHIEVEMENT: World’s largest, The Space Shuttle Enterprise heaviest glider The Space Shuttle Enterprise accomplished the first approach and landing tests in 1977 C D A B E Inset photos left: Space Shuttle ready on top of carrier Boeing 747 on the ground and in flight. LOOK FOR: A The wings. The thicker wings increase drag and slow the Shuttle down for landing. An orbiting Space Shuttle reenters the Earth’s atmosphere with a speed of 28,000 km/h (17,500 mph), and glides to Earth to land like an airplane. B The black tiles. The underside of orbiting Shuttles experience high temperatures on reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere due to friction. The black tiles on the underside of the Space Shuttle resist these high temperatures. Where do the black tiles overlap onto the side of the Shuttle? Why? C The engine pods. The Space Shuttle Enterprise did not go into Space. It performed the first flight tests involving approach and landings on a runway after gliding from an altitude of over 25,000 ft. The orbiter was carried to that altitude on a Boeing 747 carrier airplane. Only the engine housing was present—there were no engines on the Enterprise. D The payload-bay doors. When open, the payload-bay doors reveal a large cargo space. Look behind the Shuttle at the Spacelab and above the Shuttle at the Tracking Data Relay Satellite. These were carried into orbit on Space Shuttle missions. What is the best shape for a large Shuttle cargo? ■ rectangular block ■ cylinder ■e spher E The bolts. The Space Shuttle Enterprise was attached to the FACT carrier Boeing 747 airplane by large bolts. One attachment is The term Space Shuttle just visible behind the front landing wheel and the other two are close to the rear of the orbiter. All the Space Shuttles refers to a whole system made up of the could be piggy-backed by a 747, if they landed at Edwards orbiter, two solid rocket Air Force Base in California instead of landing in Florida. Why might the alternate landing site be used? boosters and the external fuel 4 tank. ACHIEVEMENT: Mariner 10 was Planetary probes Mariner 10 the first planetary probe to use and Pathfinder/Sojourner another planet to accelerate. Pathfinder was the first planetary probe to take a rover to another planet. MARINER 10 B C PATHFINDER/SOJOURNER A F D LOOK FOR: MARINER 10 3 PASSES OF MERCURY 1974-75 E A The dish antenna. This enabled the data to be sent back to Earth. B The solar panels. These provided energy to power the spacecraft systems. C The shape. The shape of Mariner 10 does not have to be aerodynamic—smooth and sleek—because there is no air resistance in the near vacuum of space. LOOK FOR: PATHFINDER/SOJOURNER LANDED ON MARS ON JULY 4, 1997 Image taken from Sojourner just after landing on Mars D Pathfinder. The planetary probe landed and opened to reveal the Sojourner rover: more than 16,500 images were sent back to Earth from the lander. E The deflated landing airbags. Like the landing of the FIND rovers Spirit and Opportunity that are currently traversing OUT MORE the Martian surface, Pathfinder used inflatable spheres to ma - cushion the impact of its landing. See the Space Science infor tion panels and the Applications F The Sojourner rover. The rover sent 550 images from Satellites display case. Look at Mars, as well as more than 15 chemical analyses of the Russian Vega Solar System rocks and soil along with extensive data on winds and probe from 1984 that other weather factors. traveled through Halley’s Comet on its way to Venus. 5 Exploring the Solar System Sun: Mars: Saturn: Neptune: Genesis, Pathfinder and Cassini-Hugyens, Voyager 2, 2004 Sojourner Rover, 2004 1989 1997 Earth Mercury and Venus: Jupiter: Uranus: Pluto 2015: Mariner 10, 1971 Galileo, 1989 Voyager 2, New Horizons, 1989 launched 2006 TIMELINE OF PLANETARY PROBES AND EARLY SATELLITES 1965 to 1971 Mariner series 1989 Magellan to Venus and 1989 Galileo to 2006 Pluto probe 1958 Explorer 1: to Mars, Mariner 10 to Jupiter, both launched from Space Shuttles launched—will First US satellite Mercury and Venus 1989 Voyager 2 to Uranus and Neptune arrive 2015 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 1957 Sputnik: First USSR satellite 1973-79 Pioneer 10 to Jupiter, 1997 Pathfinder/ 2004 Mars Pioneer 11 to Jupiter and Saturn Sojourner rover Exploration to Mars Rovers landed DESIGN YOUR OWN PLANETARY PROBE Which planets would you visit on a tour of the Solar System? Draw a picture of your probe. Look around for inspiration with your design from antennas, satellite dishes, solar panels, engines, cameras, grinding tools, etc. on the artifacts. What would you call your probe? FIND OUT MORE Investigate how the Moon was observed, including lunar probes that were launched from Earth. http://www.nasa.gov/ home/index.html 6 Design your own probe. Name it! ACHIEVEMENT: The spacesuit Apollo Spacesuit allowed astronauts to survive on the surface of the Moon Apollo 15 spacesuit, 1971 LOOK FOR: A A The Apollo 15 spacesuit. The spacesuit displayed is one that was worn on the Moon. What is visible all over the surface of the spacesuit? B Spacesuit helmet. The extravehicular helmet retains the correct air pressure for B survival, although it is lower than on Earth. Would the astronaut be restricted in his vision by the extravehicular helmet? What percentage of C normal view is blocked by parts of the helmet? C Apollo gloves. They have D special tips to let the astronaut feel more when holding objects. What do you think these tips are made of? D Apollo boots. The Apollo extravehicular boots look different from Mercury and Gemini boots. What is the difference between the Apollo missions compared to earlier space exploration that required a different boot style? LOOK ABOVE: Apollo Astronaut on the Moon.