Kennedy Space Pilots Essay

y cover picture was taken at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida, back in July 2007. My sister and I are pictured in front of the replica Space Shuttle Explorer. The rocket has since been moved to Houston, and was renamed Independence. The Kennedy Space Center is home to Launch Complex 39, which has been used for every NASA human space launch since 1972 (“Kennedy Space Center,” n.d.). Though the Kennedy Space Center only has space shuttles, the physics between the flight of an airplane, and flight of a rocket are very similar. Both vehicles experience a lift force, however that of the rocket has a much greater magnitude. The weight force is much greater on the space shuttle than the airplane, due to the larger mass. A drag force is felt by both aircrafts, and again the

In a general sense, steering is a change of direction. To change direction, both the velocity and acceleration of the body must be altered. Since velocity is the speed in a particular direction, changing direction will always change velocity, even if the speed stays constant. The same goes for acceleration, as a change in direction means a change in acceleration. So in theory to steer, it requires a change of direction in both the velocity and acceleration. An airplane steers while it is in the air via a system of flaps on the wings, called control surfaces. Depending on how the flaps are oriented, this determines the direction that the plane will travel. For example, when the pilot wants to turn the plane to the left, he will activate a control surface on the left wing and point the flap downward. This will increase the drag on the left wing while the right wing stays the same, therefore causing the plane to turn left. Having the luxury of flying on an airplane is something many of us take for granted, but we really owe it to those who have innovated flight over the last 100 years, starting with the Wright