4 ms·
falling nine times faster than a fired bullet No, that's not how the physics works. The foam is moving at the same velocity as the shuttle when it breaks off,
by userbinator 1y ago
falling nine times faster than a fired bullet
No, that's not how the physics works. The foam is moving at the same velocity as the shuttle when it breaks off, and had a short time to accelerate(decelerate) before hitting the shuttle.
- KiwiJohnno 1y agoTHANK YOU. I've seen the velocity of the space shuttle quoted as the speed that the foam had when it hit Columbia's wing so many times, and it bugs the crap out of me.
- userbinator 1y agoIf that was the actual impact velocity of the foam, there would not be any doubt about whether the shuttle would survive reentry, that is if it even managed to make it all the way into space.
- blankx32 1y agoAs the crew rose at 28,968 kilometres per hour the piece of foam collided with one of the tiles on the outer edge of the shuttle’s left wing. This also cannot be correct at approx 82 seconds into flight.