Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!physics.utoronto.ca!neufeld
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: neufeld@physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld)
Subject: Shuttle fuel reserves
Message-ID: <1990Jan17.233050.3044@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>
Date: 18 Jan 90 04:30:50 GMT

   I was quite surprised to read on clari.tw.space that one of the
shuttle's forward thrusters fired accidentally last night. You'd think this
sort of thing would require pushing a few buttons, not just a passing whim
in an on-board computer (if that's what it was).
   So, was the thruster which fired one of the ones used to break orbit?
What is the fuel reserve on the shuttle? Are there similar thrusters on the
stern, which would not deorbit the shuttle, but could burn so much fuel
that the shuttle would no longer be able to break orbit? Does the shuttle
always fly with the nose pointing along the orbit (ie. forward)?
   While we're on the subject of fuel, does the shuttle exhaust all its
fuel before landing, or does it land with some fuel left in the tanks?
Also, are the shuttle's thrusters powered by hydrogen-oxygen, hydrazine, or
something else?

-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | 
 neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca              | The meek can have the
 cneufeld@pro-generic.cts.com                    | earth, I want the stars.
 "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" |