NASA’s space shuttle program

NASA’s space shuttle program ran from 1981-2011 with 135 flights to space. The goal of this project is to determine the g-forces felt by the astronauts as they are leaving the launch pad. To watch a video of the Space Shuttle launch follow the link below, be certain to switch to HD and expand to full screen. http://tinyurl.com/ShuttleLaunchHD

Throughout this project round all answers to the nearest tenth and include units.

1) Using a ruler, measure the length external tank of the space shuttle in one of the poster frames.

2) In reality the main external tank of the space shuttle is approximately 46.9 meters tall. Use this information to set up a proportion to find how tall a two meter tall person would be as displayed on one of the photographs. Before you continue to part 3) ask yourself if your result makes sense. If your result doesn’t make sense do not move on to problem 3, talk to your instructor.

3) Estimate how high the space shuttle is in each frame of the poster. The table below should reflect the actual height of the space shuttle not the cm or inches seen in the poster. For simplicity in measurements you may measure the height from the top of the shuttle to the bottom border of the photograph. This is not an accurate measurement of the shuttle’s height but this issue will be discussed further

Time (seconds) is 1 2 4 6 8 9

What is Height (meters)

4) What is the average speed of the shuttle between t = 1 and t = 2?

5) What is the average speed of the shuttle between t = 8 and t = 9?

6) Does the space shuttle move at a constant rate? Why do you believe this? Answer this question quantitatively using your answers from 4 and 5.

7) Use your calculator to find a quadratic function that models the height of the shuttle as a function of time.

8) Use the dy/dx feature on your calculator to find the space shuttles speed at t = 4 and t = 5

9) Find the difference between the speeds you found in 4) and 5) to find the Space Shuttles acceleration. (Acceleration is change in velocity over change in time and has units m/s2).

10) Find the difference between the speeds you found in 8) to find the Space Shuttles acceleration. (Acceleration is change in velocity over change in time and has units m/s2).

11) Given your quadratic formula 𝑦 = 𝐴𝑥2 + 𝐵𝑥 + 𝐶 that models the height of the Space Shuttle use the formula

𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 2𝐴

Find the acceleration of the shuttle and compare it to your answer from 9)

12) Use your results from 9) or 10) and the formula

𝑔 − 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 = 9.8+𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 9.8

to find the g-forces felt by the astronauts in the shuttle as they take-off.

13) What part of the shuttle did you use to measure its height? If another group in class used a different part of the shuttle (for example perhaps another group measured the height of the right wing) would this effect your answer to parts 4-12)?

The final Space Shuttle program ended on July 21st 2011 when the Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, follow the link http://tinyurl.com/FinalLanding to see it. You can learn more about the Space Shuttle program by following the links below.

http://tinyurl.com/SpaceShuttleVideo http://tinyurl.com/SpaceShuttleLinks

Photo Credit: http://www.peterlorber.com