What travels at 17000 miles an hour?

Satellites in low-Earth orbit, or LEO, stay within 500 miles (800 kilometers) and travel extremely fast—17,000 miles an hour (27,400 kilometers an hour) or more—to keep from being drawn back into Earth’s atmosphere.

How long would it take for the space shuttle to get to the moon?

about 3 days
It takes about 3 days for a spacecraft to reach the Moon. During that time a spacecraft travels at least 240,000 miles (386,400 kilometers) which is the distance between Earth and the Moon.

How fast does a space shuttle travel in space?

about 17,500 miles per hour
What is its altitude? How much fuel does it use? A. Like any other object in low-Earth orbit, a Space Shuttle must reach speeds of about 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour) to remain in orbit.

What speed does the space shuttle re enter Earth?

As the shuttle gets lower, it eventually begins to plow through the Earth’s atmosphere at initial speed of about 17,000 miles per hour! During re-entry, the shuttle is going so fast, it compresses the air ahead of it.

Why does the ISS travel at 17 500 mph?

Because the rockets that launched the components of the ISS started on a rotating surface (the Earth), the speed of that rotation is added to the speed the ISS travels in its orbit, meaning we didn’t have to burn as much fuel to get to 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h).

How fast does the space station travel per hour?

28,000 kilometers per hour
How fast does the ISS travel? The ISS travels at about 17,500 miles/28,000 kilometers per hour. At this speed, the ISS orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, which gives the crew 16 sunrises and sunsets every day.

Why did it take 3 days to reach the moon?

It took three days for Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins to reach the Moon: the Apollo missions all had three man crews. They left on a ‘free return’ trajectory – so, if the SPS engine failed at the moon, the lunar gravity would loop them back toward Earth.

How long does it take to get from Earth to Mars?

between 150-300 days
The total journey time from Earth to Mars takes between 150-300 days depending on the speed of the launch, the alignment of Earth and Mars, and the length of the journey the spacecraft takes to reach its target.

How fast can we travel in space in light years?

Saying we were a space shuttle that travelled five miles per second, given that the speed of light travels at 186,282 miles per second, it would take about 37,200 human years to travel one light year.

What is the top speed of a Space Shuttle in mph?

1. Top speed. While in orbit, the space shuttle travels around Earth at a speed of about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometers) per hour. At this speed, the crew can see a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes.

How far did the Space Shuttle orbiters travel?

Well traveled The combined mileage of all five orbiters is 513.7 million miles (826.7 million km), or 1.3 times the distance between Earth and Jupiter. Each orbiter, except for Challenger, traveled farther than the distance between Earth and the sun.

What is the weight of the heaviest Space Shuttle?

The heaviest space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, weighed 178,000 pounds (80,700 kg), roughly the weight of 13 African Elephants. Columbia, the first space shuttle to fly, weighed the most because NASA was still searching for lighter materials to use, and integrated some of these into the later orbiters.

How do space shuttles return to Earth?

To return to earth, the orbiter turns around, fires its OMS engines to reduce speed, and, after descending through the atmosphere lands like a glider. After four orbital test flights (1981-1982) of the space shuttle Columbia, operational flights began in November of 1982.