Apollo 13 Journey

Improved Essays
In the last 35 years, 789 out of 833 people have returned to Earth on a NASA Shuttle. However, seven of the casualties were from a failed reentry of the atmosphere which occurred on February 1st, 2003 when the STS-107 Columbia burnt up and disintegrated during reentry. In this log, one will learn how a space shuttle is designed and how the trajectory a ship takes to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere safely.
Space is everything, discovered known places, and also the dangerous unknown. However, when astronauts and cosmonauts return to Earth from space, it take a lot of hard work to return safely. The first step to reentry is knowing how drag and gravity will affect the flight. The astronomers and astronauts use an equation to show drag on the ship
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I have lived in a time with a lot of foreign space exploration, such as Mars, Pluto, and the rest of the now explored space in the galaxy. I have watch launch and reentry videos from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). I have always wondered how the ship reenters the atmosphere after learning that it can burn up and be destroyed if not done correctly. I have always been fascinated by the idea of space how the travel back works. I really gain interest in space and the ship itself after watching the film Apollo 13 based on the ship malfunction on the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. In the film, the crew had to guide the ship perfectly in the correct angle and direction to enter the atmosphere correctly. If they missed the angle, they would have burned up and died. This concept was fascinating to me, and that is why I found this study interesting to …show more content…
One of which is, how did the angle needed for reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere discovered? After all the research, an answer to this question was not found. This question is interesting because there had to have been many trials of error and loss trying to reenter the atmosphere. Since the angle is so precise, how did astronomers discover the angle? Was it by a lucky reentry that survived or was it a calculated degree that was tested to confirm the calculation? An answer to this question would help to understand the development of spacecrafts and ships through the

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