Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!uokmax!jabishop
From: jabishop@uokmax.uucp (Jonathan A Bishop)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Liftoff Question
Message-ID: <1990Sep14.134059.32204@uokmax.uucp>
Date: 14 Sep 90 13:40:59 GMT
References: <52900004@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <36104@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Lines: 18

v055mvw3@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Gregory J Schaffer) writes:

>The Space Shuttle's Main Engines have the capability to swivel (I
>believe the correct term is GIMBLE), and I think, to a *VERY* small
>degree, so can the SRB skirts.

     Yes, the SRB skirts can.  They can't move nearly as much as the SSME's,
but when they do, I'm sure they generate a hell of a big moment.

     If you watch NASA Select or some other good news source (i.e., not a
network) for the next Shuttle launch, you will probably be able to see the
main engine gimbal check and the control surfaces check which occur, if I'm
not mistaken, right after APU start up.
-- 
jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu

"Ground Control to Major Tom: Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?" -- David Bowie