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11.
Chris
Johns, of Flushing, Mich., asks the question:
|
I know during Project
Apollo there was a four-minute blackout period in communications
during re-entry of the Command Module. Does the shuttle have
the same issue?
ANSWER |
| 12.
Simon
Bryant, of Aylesbury, England, asks the question:
|
|
When MECO has occurred,
why does the shuttle orbit for a while before jettison of
the main tank. I would have thought that the tank separation
would occur at the same time as MECO?
ANSWER
|
| 13.
Roger
Yurkiw, of Beamsville, Ontario, asks the question:
|
The P1 Truss is going
to be unberthed using the shuttle arm and then a handoff to
the station arm this time around. Is this being done for a specific
technical reason? The S1 Truss was deployed solely with the
station arm, and seeing as this is its symmetrical twin, I don't
understand the need to use both arms.
ANSWER
|
| 14.
Bob
Gray, of Tampa, Fla., asks the question:
|
As the ISS gains mass
from added components, does it need to go into a higher orbit?
And if so, how is it propelled there?
ANSWER
|
| 15.
Andy
Smith, of Gloucester, U.K., asks the question:
|
When either MCC or
the crew talks to each other, one of them always say "Air to
ground 1 or 2." Does it matter which one is used? Why do they
tell each other which one they are using?
ANSWER |
| 16.
Amanda,
of Sydney, Australia, asks the question:
|
What are the safe reentry
angles when traveling back into the Earth's atmosphere, and
why are they important?
ANSWER
|
| 17.
Adam
Krantz, of Seattle, Wash., asks the question:
|
Can you please explain
the solar beta angle and how this affects the ISS? The status
report on Nov. 20, 2002, describes a high solar beta angle from
Dec. 21, 2002, for six days and describes using an orientation
of YVV/"Barbecue" (y-axis in velocity vector, i.e., vertical
body axis Y facing forward, in flight direction). Can you explain
that orientation, and why it is necessary?
ANSWER |
| 18.
Craig
Neth, of Hollis, N.H., asks the question:
|
My question is about
the S1 and P1 Trusses, specifically the keel pins and drag links.
Why aren't those returned on the shuttle? Is there a plan to
ever return the truss elements on the shuttle?
ANSWER |
| 19.
Randy
Kahler, of Northampton, Pa., asks the question:
|
One of the tasks on
spacewalk No. 2 of STS-113 is the transfer of the CETA cart
from the P1 Truss to the S1 Truss. Why are both CETA carts needed
on the S1?
ANSWER
|
|
20.
Phil
Bucher, of Denver, Colo., asks the question:
|
Tonight while watching
the station/shuttle pass directly overhead, we noted that we
could clearly see a white "jet contrail" tracking ahead of the
station across the sky to the east. Initially, I thought it
was merely a coincidence that the station happened to be following
the track of a recent commercial jet, as viewed from my location.
But when I compared our viewing with a friend who lives about
15 miles to the south, he had observed the same "contrail,"
and since it appeared to be perfectly aligned with the vehicle
from his viewpoint too, then we realized it was some artifact
of the station itself. So, what did we actually see?
ANSWER |
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