Page 21 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

 The Space Shuttle has three major components: (1) an orbiter equipped with three main rocket engines in the rear section, (2) an external tank containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants for use by the main engines of the orbiter for ascent, and (3) two separable solid fuel motors (the boosters) that burn along with the main orbiter engines to provide thrust during initial ascent.
Its main engines and the two boosters combine to provide more than 28,900,000 newtons of thrust at takeoff.
In this picture the Shuttle
is shown having reached the rotating service structure on the launch pad.
AccelerAte To gain speed.
cAtAlyst A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction but that is itself unchanged.
combustion cHAmber A vessel inside an engine or motor where the fuel components mix and are set on fire, that is, they are burned (combusted).
gimbAls A framework that allows anything inside it to move in a variety of directions.
momentum The mass of an object multiplied by its velocity.
propellAnt A gas, liquid, or solid that can be expelled rapidly from the end of an object in order to give it motion.
retrorocket A rocket that fires against the direction of travel in order to slow down a space vehicle.
velocity A more precise word to describe how something is moving, because movement has both a magnitude (speed) and a direction.
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