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You can really see how tiny that thing is in the last two photos. I've never seen a photo of the Space Shuttle next to anything I can relate to, so I was amaze
by georgieporgie 16y ago
You can really see how tiny that thing is in the last two photos. I've never seen a photo of the Space Shuttle next to anything I can relate to, so I was amazed how enormous it was on a visit to the Houston Space Center. The only relevant photo I can find puts it atop a 747:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantis_on_Shuttle_Carrier_Aircraft.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantis_on_Shuttle_Carrie...
- jswanson 16y agoNASA has a lot of really good pictures up on their site actually. Here's a front on shot of Discovery. It has some people in it, which are great for scale: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/imageviewer.cfm?mediaid=51090&mr=l&w=0&h=0&fn=2011-2172&sn=KSC-2011-2172 http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/imageviewer.cfm?mediaid=510...
- gaius 16y agoIt's curious how shuttle-like it looks; without a crew to accomodate it could be literally any shape you wanted, subject to aerodynamic considerations. Reusing the design or scaled prototype for a next generation manned craft?
- geedee77 16y agoI can't remember where I read it (it may have been Wikipedia) but the shape X-37 was based on the shuttle which is why it's the current craft that's being developed by the military. There was another craft prototyped but it was too costly and time consuming to test out a completely new shape.