Jobs on the
Space Shuttle

Captain | Crew | Navigation

Space Captain

If you were going to be a Captain, you would have to be responsible, brave, hard working, nice, and smart. Captains usually participate in a lot of activities. Captains can be trusted and are cooperative. I like captains and I am glad we have such great captains controlling our skies.

Lauren

Space Crews

Captain | Crew | Navigation

Crews have very important jobs. A crew’s job involves teamwork, lots of teamwork and split second timing.  Without your team you would be dead. You can’t be afraid to ask for help from your team.  Some jobs the space crews do are things like, medical, life support, and probe. A captain is the head crew member. Navigation is also part of the crew.  There are many ways to describe what a crew does. Let’s say the voyage is a body. The crew is the bones. The body can only be held up with the bones. The crew navigates, experiments, and reports to the brain (mission control). They also get to be in space and other exciting places.

Wayne

Space Navigation

Captain | Crew | Navigation

Navigation in space uses lots of equipment. The equipment includes things like sextants, gyroscopes, and small electronic computers. The astronauts use these things to find their position in space and check their course. Telemetry equipment sends information about all space craft systems to ground stations. Astronauts use telemetry to measure from a distance. Telemetry helps people explore outer space. Rockets and spacecraft send information about their own conditions in outer space to scientists on the Earth. The moon is a moving target. It travels around the earth more that 2,000 miles per hour. If a spacecraft went on a three day journey, the moon would have moved more than 165,000 miles. That means a spacecraft must be aimed at a spot very far ahead of the moon’s position. That way by the time the rocket gets there, the moon will be at that target. The way a space craft stays on course is by firing rocket motors on the outside of the spacecraft. This is called a control system. Control systems allow the astronauts to place the spacecraft in any position they would like. By firing up the control systems the astronauts can move the spacecraft any way they want to. They can tilt it, point it to either side and roll it right or left. Sensitive gyroscopes and other equipment help the craft stay on course. Some spacecraft are controlled by clockwork and magnetic tape devices. Many launch vehicles are controlled electronically by scientists and engineers on the ground. Signals from the vehicle go to a computer on the ground and tell the computers how the vehicles are working. The computers on the ground compare the information with the vehicle’s planned operation. The computer then sends back signals that will help the vehicle correct its speed and direction.

Bryan