• Question: how fast can does a space shuttle go?

    Asked by 287nch23 to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 13 Dec 2015. This question was also asked by 254nch39.
    • Photo: Andrew Winnard

      Andrew Winnard answered on 13 Dec 2015:

      Hi 287! I am really happy you asked about the space shuttle, it is my favourite spaceship. I used to to watch all the shuttle launches before it stopped flying. If you have any more shuttle questions please send them over to me! Before I answer your question… Have you even seen a space shuttle launch? 😀 It was my favourite space ship to watch launch! This is an HD video of it launching for you (I recommend watching it with the sound turned high 😀 ):

      So to answer your question directly:
      The space shuttle had a maximum speed of 17,500 mph! When you are driving along the motorway you are going at 70mph, so you can see that the space shuttle is going really fast! If you could fly on holiday to America in a shuttle rather than a normal aeroplane, then the trip would take about 20minutes rather than 6-10 hours!

      It has to go this fast to be able to orbit the Earth 🙂 and this video here explains orbits and why you have to go SOOoooo fast to get into orbit.

      Talking about launching spaceships though! Dont forget Tim Peake is launching this week on Tuesday morning! You can watch it live on TV or on the internet 🙂 you should ask your teachers if you can watch. I have made a video myself for you all about how Tim will launch to help you follow the real launch!

      Finally – the astro support team will be getting evicted this week from Tuesday! If you like my answers where I try and put lots of videos in for you then please vote for me so I can stick around and keep answering your awesome questions… and check out the video message on my profile 😀

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