Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!xanth!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tikal!phred!petej
From: petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: QUESTION: Shuttle round trips to the moon?
Message-ID: <2443@phred.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jan 89 14:53:29 GMT
References: <14549@oberon.USC.EDU>
Reply-To: petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis)
Organization: <14549@oberon.USC.EDU>o
Lines: 13

In article <14549@oberon.USC.EDU> weiss%neuro.usc.edu@oberon.usc.edu writes:
>Can the shuttle fly to the moon, land, and take off again to return
>to the earth.  Keep in mind the moon has 1/6 the gravitational pull
>of the earth.  Let's assume for the moment that there is adequate
>solid flat landing surface prepared on the moon for the landing.

The Shuttle could not go to the Moon even if they wanted to. There is not
the fuel capacity on board to do such a flight. There are other limitations
such as fuel cell capacity, etc. The landing gear only comes down once on
tires that are inflated to land on Earth's surface. The Shuttle only has the
ability to go about 400 miles out into an Earth orbit.

Peter Jarvis..........Physio-Control........Redmond, WA.