The Space Shuttle Iceberg Explained

[@Justin.Franks]

(Note: I posted this comment earlier with a link to the article but it got caught in the spam filter.) 1:05:50 "Gravity gradient" refers to the sections of a spacecraft that are closer to earth having a very slightly higher gravitational pull from the earth. This can twist out of position a spacecraft trying to dock with another, especially if the docking procedure takes longer than normal for whatever reason. The article titled "Taking a Risk to Avoid Risk" by John McManamen on NASA's website gives a good explanation of the phenomenon. Searching for the title plus the author should put it as the first result.

[@h3haIf]

This is also why "center of gravity" and "center of mass" are two different things (though they are almost always in nearly the exact same place). The center of gravity will always be a little closer to Earth's center than the center of mass, because the bits of the spacecraft that are closer to Earth get pulled on slightly harder than the bits that are farther away. A homework assignment you might get in an undergrad attitude dynamics class would be to compute the center of gravity of a few-kilometers-long steel rod where one end is pointed towards Earth and the other away from Earth. In an absurd scenario like that, the center of gravity would be significantly closer to Earth than the center of mass (though I don't remember the specifics of how far apart they were).

[@michaelgian2649]

Tidal force?

[@asdfasdf-dd9lk]

@@michaelgian2649 Yup, it's exactly a tidal force

[@Destructerator]

there are so many minutiae involved with spaceflight that affect the measurements and tolerances and I keep learning about more of them. I thought thermodynamics were bad enough.

[@Me.is.Malhar]

one Really cool concept is using the gradients for propulsion. One of my favourite papers is reaction-less tethered propulsion, amazing concept where no mass is flung out to gain orbital velocity.

[@pseudotasuki]

1:05:29 Technically, multiple human skulls were flown on every Space Shuttle mission.

[@greycatturtle7132]

Yea 😂

[@okankyoto]

The "SLS 100 Years" is a meme because people get very upset at it. The poster really is a poster about Boeing's 100th anniversary and is saying "to the next 100 years". They made several for their other programs and contracts, the SLS one just made people online the most angry.

[@OptimusSubPr1me]

Thank you, if you hadn't said that, I would have.

[@Roddy556]

Perception is key. Poor choice of slogan.

[@theussmirage]

A Boeing 747 themed 100 years poster would have had the exact opposite reaction 😂

[@therocinante3443]

Well when they've spent as much of our money as they have promising we'll land people on the moon by 2020 and well...

[@johngaltline9933]

To be fair to the poster, the SLS is already well over 40 years along on all of it's major parts. It's pretty much just a kit-bash of a shuttle.

[@IanMcCloghrie]

The running joke in the early '90s was that space station Freedom had been renamed "Fred", because it had been downsized so much that there wasn't room to paint the full name on it anymore.

[@dadthejedi]

Great video. Lot of stuff I didn't know. Here's a few more lesser known facts: 1. Columbia never went to the ISS. Being the first orbiter, it was too heavy even after removing the ejection seats. 2. The ISS orbits at an inclination of 51.6 degrees, which was chosen to benefit the Russians, as their launch pads are further north. 3. Greg Jarvis wasn't supposed to fly on 51-L (Challenger). He was bumped off of previous missions by two joy-riding US Congressmen. Utah Senator Jake Garn bumped him off of 51D and he was reassigned to 61-C. Congressman (and later NASA administrator) Bill Nelson bumped him off that flight so Jarvis was assigned to 51-L. 4. Senator Garn was practically incapacitated during his flight due to extreme space sickness. It was so bad that astronauts later started using a "Garn Scale" to measure degrees of sickness, with "1 Garn" being the worst.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Columbia also wasn't able to go to the ISS or Mir, as she lacked an external docking mechanism ;)

[@welcometowherever7475]

@@DKiSAerospaceHistoryi read somewhere that at least one mission after sts 107 was supposed to take Columbia to the iss after a lengthy modification process

[@giuliodondi]

According to orbital mechanics alone, the ISS Inclination only needed to match the laittude of Baikonur (45.6N), but this would entail dropping spent Soyuz and Proton stages over Eastern China. A big no-no. Hence the higher inclination.

[@rockstopsthetraffic]

​@@giuliodondimeanwhile China doesn't care where they dump their stages lol

[@ronsmith4927]

@@DKiSAerospaceHistory OV-102 was going to get a docking compartment, as she was the orbiter originally scheduled for STS-118. After the accident and the orbiter reshuffle, Endeavour ended up flying and was light enough to lift more cargo.

[@bogatyr2473]

I continue to think that Shuttle-C was a fantastic idea. The Shuttle was a phenomenal heavy lift vehicle, we just wasted so much tonnage on silly things like the crew and re-entry equipment. Strip all that out and you could loft a ridiculous payload. It was also such a simple design comparatively. It's a pity we didn't move forward with it.

[@SofaKingShit]

You can criticize it all ylu want but at least they kept the crew all strictly serious and never went in for cheap gimmicky things like sending up civilians and televising the whole thing.

[@nonegone7170]

@@SofaKingShit what?

[@infinitespace2520]

@@SofaKingShit Uhh yeah, about that. They did exactly that in STS 51L, and you know what happened there.

[@UnshavenStatue]

aint nothing simple about having 3 different thrust axes all offset from the center of mass. in fact columbia can be indirectly blamed on the complexity of the architecture, since main tank foam insulation falling onto the orbiter isn't even a thing on any other rocket. good riddance imo.

[@Jack-Tactical]

@@SofaKingShitAll of that was because the government needs the public to approve of the massive spending required for putting anything in space. Just PR intended to keep people excited. Sadly, things went wrong due to people caving to deadline pressures and normalcy bias.

[@MrJStyer]

Minor correction: Vandenberg is not a NASA site, but a US Space Force site. While Delta was the primary customer in the shuttle days, SpaceX is now by far the most frequent launch provider at Vandenberg.

[@gelatinous6915]

Fun fact about the OMS/Artemis engine: it's an AJ-10, which is possibly the most widely used American engine ever. It was used in the Vanguard, Thor Able/Ablestar, Atlas Able, Delta 1 and II, Titan III, Apollo Service Module, Space Shuttle, AND Artemis Service Module. It's been around for so long because it's so lightweight and reliable that there isn't a better replacement for it's purposes.

[@DawudSandstorm2]

My grandfather actually worked on the Challenger project as an engineer, he quit three weeks before the disaster because he felt the construction of the shuttle was substandard and political pressure was forcing them to launch it before it was ready.

[@Theover4000]

I never got to know my grandfather, but he worked on Challenger, and all of the subsequent return to flight programs until he retired in 1989. If I could’ve interviewed him, a safety engineer.. I’m sure he’d have had similar qualms.

[@KSparks80]

@DawudSandstorm2 Challenger had been flying for 3 years, with 9 previous flights, prior to the accident (her 10th flight). Your "grandfather" story doesn't add up at all.

[@DawudSandstorm2]

@@KSparks80 My grandfather on my mother's side worked on Challenger. I once asked him why he thought it exploded and he said he believed construction of the rocket was poor and he believed there was political pressure to launch before it was ready. He told me he stopped working on the project shortly before the disaster, and know he had problems with it at the time and still talks about them sometimes today. I'm not sure if he quit, I believe he was working for NASA on behalf of a contractor so the contract may have just ended. I know that he was employed as a specialist, I said he was an engineer but I think it's more likely he was working as a programmer at the time. That is what this comment was based on. I thought about giving the name of my Grandfather for you to verify this, but he doesn't want his name out there, so for privacy reasons I won't.

[@eugenioarpayoglou]

Here are a few they missed: Columbia was planned to service Skylab to raise its orbit with a special booster rocket module, but it launched too late. The Shuttles had two hatches. The other one, on the opposite side, was covered with TPS but had an external "cut here" marking. The Shuttle OMS AJ10 engines were variants of the Apollo Service Module engine. There were little air tight fabric pods tested for crew rescue. There was a tile repair tool tested that squirted a pink heat resistant substance that might have saved Columbia.

[@HopefullyAnAircraft]

The rescue pods were hilarious, I can't imagine being stuck in a bubble with a single window while someone drags you along.

[@535phobos]

The Apollo service module engine was just a variant of the Vanguards second stage engine. Yeah, the AJ10 goes way back. And now it again flies to the moon on Orion

[@MrGeforcerFX]

@@HopefullyAnAircraft that's all a space suit is, it's just body shaped instead of ball shaped.

[@avatarmikephantom153]

Story Musgrave is a fascinating man. More people need to know about him. A true modern polymath.

[@golfnovember]

I had the chance to shake his hand in 2007 at an Airshow where he spoke. Wonderful presentation, and wonderful man.

[@MrRrusiii]

Proud to be related to him. Met him last year at Bluegrass airport, and a talk he gave at UKY.

[@thomasbell7033]

Physician, astronaut, went back to school later in life to get a master's in literature and has who knows what other degrees. Quite a man.

[@ComradePhoenix]

Something I'm surprised wasn't covered here, despite being shown at 37:21. The Pathfinder shuttle (I think anyone who's been to Space Camp would remember it, but few people without that experience would, because the story doesn't seem to get much outside circulation, but it still feels odd to leave off a Shuttle Iceberg). Essentially, Pathfinder was the "first" "Shuttle", predating even Enterprise, and was used for some preliminary structural tests before Enterprise. Its a full-scale model, but IIRC (its been nearly 20 years, so my memory's a bit fuzzy on details), made out of wood and other things that wouldn't make it very space-worthy, so it was never even considered for conversion, and was generally intended to simulate the mass (and mass distribution) of the real deal. Its currently on display at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, which is why Space Camp alumni would know it.

[@S1ayer122]

31:10 John Young was also on the surface of the moon whenever the call came through that the space shuttle program had been approved for development

[@JackL]

Very nicely done! As someone with an actual AE degree and who has been reading about this stuff for a while, there's lots from Level 3 and deeper that was completely new. Just goes to show how much there is to learn. New sub :)

[@Lockheed_Enjoyer]

Some of space shuttle resolution!'s plans were used to build the "Spacecamp" Mockups in Huntsville. Which I have had the honor of sitting in on my space camp mission dubbed 'STS-136".

[@filippofranzato]

honestly you deserve more subscribers. amazing work!

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Thank you! 😊

[@TastyBusiness]

My favorite is the idea of the Skylab Boost Mission, the intent to use STS-3 to deploy a space tug to boost Skylab back into a stable orbit so that the shuttle could dock with it. It never came to pass due to the shuttle being far too late to make it there, but it's cool to think about the what-if

[@PerigeeAerospace]

That KSP footage for the STS-51G ATO was great!!

[@WasatchWind]

Your little caveat to the "general public" really hurts with how true it is. The general public's knowledge of space is painfully bad. I say to a friend I'm watching a rocket launch. They ask candidly "are they landing people on the Moon?" I'm aghast. This makes them more surprised. Many people don't know we went to the Moon more than once, and other people don't know we _stopped_ going.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

The general public's lack of knowledge will be highlighted quite a bit with the upcoming Apollo Iceberg. It's sad that people basically only know "Neil Armstrong said one small step for man".

[@AlienVibesss]

This video popped up in my recommended, and since my knowledge on Shuttle is limited, I really appreciated this! I learned a lot, and also realized I knew a lot more than I thought lol. Thank you for this oustanding, informative video!

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hope you stick around for more 😁

[@AlienVibesss]

@@DKiSAerospaceHistory I absolutely will. Subscribed, and got notifications on. Now I get to binge your other videos while I wait for new ones.

[@enfyrneaux]

Vandenberg AFB (SFB now) was my home station, we always pronounced SLC-6 as "Slick Six". It's an ideal location for polar orbit launches as it's open ocean all the way to Antarctica. We had a whole emergency response checklist for orbiter landings, and while we never used them I wouldn't be surprised if the same procedures got adapted for the much smaller X-37B drone spaceplane when it landed there in 2010. Also the road from the runway on main base to South Gate has an unusually wide embankment cut into the hill - this is to accommodate a trailer carrying the shuttle orbiter down to south base and SLC-6.

[@UnshavenStatue]

25:16 in the same vein, when you watch it liftoff you can see that it's actually power sliding, technically -- moving just a bit "forward" in the same direction as the twang, in addition to vertically, and for very much the same reason as the twang.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

The tower camera views that focus on the orbiter really show that off, it starts center frame and ends somewhere center-left.

[@thomasbell7033]

I'm an aviation/space writer from Houston. My newspaper would send me to cover Shuttle landings, while our NASA beat reporter covered launches. When the landings were at Edwards AFB, the Air Force would close the roads into and out of the place the day before. This meant the media had to spend the night in the desert. I would bed down on the back seat of my rental car, miserable as all hell. As anyone who's been to the high desert knows, it goes from 100 degrees to just above freezing in the time it takes for the sun to set. But oh, those deadstick landings were awesome to see, the double sonic boom, then the thing arriving with no more than a slight whoosh of air.

[@general_av8or]

Great video! My dad took me to see the STS-94 Columbia launch, my one and only in person shuttle launch. Never knew it was a reflight for the shortened STS-83.

[@Rei_doll]

Something interesting I found out about my family is that my uncle was almost chosen for the teacher in the challenger disaster he made it to the semi finals, but was only rejected because he was a little bit older than the recommended age for going to space he had a great track record though he was in the Navy and in the army

[@colinritchie1757]

Brilliant video - One of the best space related videos I've ever seen

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Thank you so much!

[@colinritchie1757]

@@DKiSAerospaceHistory And thank you for one of the best hours' worth of education I've had for a long time!

[@mercerconsulting9728]

Attended the first launch of Endeavor. That's from the book of "who cares" of course, but I also did a painting of a shuttle launch that has appeared in space science exhibits. Because of this, I was given a ticket to the causeway for the shuttle launch, which was rather cool.

[@kerbalengineer1243]

I believe the "high energy upper stage" was referring to either the Titan's dual AJ10 stage that was going to be used for Dynasoar or the Fluorine based NOMAD upper stage.

[@nunyabidness674]

Along with Mir, there was also skylab which many have forgotten. While never visited by a shuttle (Saturn 1B rockets were used for crew delivery) the hatch was made to link with skylab as well as Mir. The shuttles were designed to work with skylab, and thus the hatch on the ISS was also designed to link with skylab, even if skylab no longer existed.

[@trekker105]

It's like that xkcd about that flower that evolved to attract only a specific bee species...that is now extinct.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

Wasn't the plan for Skylab to be saved by the shuttle? But the shuttle never flew in time

[@nunyabidness674]

@@jesusramirezromo2037 no, it was an already dying piece of equipment. The life expectancy was 140 days of occupation, it lasted an extra 40 as it was

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

@@nunyabidness674 Yhea, But NASA still wanted to use it The ISS has far outlived it's initial life time, Doesn't mean it's not useful

[@nunyabidness674]

@@jesusramirezromo2037 the bits that were breaking on Skylab would have been "sketchy" to work on at best. That and it was nearly out of fuel with no option of refueling. The thought was put through to use the shuttle as an orbital adjustment engine which would have plausibly extended the stations life, but then the gyros started failing and navigation was out the window. Skylab 4 technically evacuated the station before they wouldn't have been able to get home safely. As it was, they had to kinda scramble off before they wouldn't have a known point of origin to plot re-entry. It was right after this the concept of a "Shuttle rescue" of the lab was tossed in the round file.

[@91_C4_FL]

Never knew about the Challenger/Atlantis body flap swap. Very neat!

[@Kz_J]

Hey just a heads up. At 16:17 it seemed you implied that polar launches out of Vandenberg would overfly South Carolina and the discarded ET would overfly Canada and Russia. This isn't the case. Rockets usually launch south out of Vandenberg over the pacific, which is why Vandenberg is great for launches to polar/near-polar orbits (which you noted a few minutes earlier). This information about overflying applies to hypothetical northward launches to polar orbits from the east coast, rather than launches out of Vandenberg. Loving the video though! Keep it up!

[@MK-tt5xy]

South Carolina definitely came out of nowhere. I'm guessing he means either San Clemente or Santa Catalina islands. There was talk about problems with the ET coming down over land in the event of an RTLS abort. Perhaps that is what he's referencing.

[@Kz_J]

@@MK-tt5xy It's possible that South Carolina could have been overflown in the case of polar launches from the east coast (assuming they launched north)

[@JoshBoggsexposedhomes]

Absolutely loved this video! Thank you! As a HUGE fan of the STS program and used to geek out as a kid on reading the shuttle manual and other books, this was just awesome to watch and learn so much more! We all used to have so much balls back in the day and so glad those that flew it were willing to take those risks!

[@rocketman1104]

The SLS next 100 years poster isnt inferring that it will fly for the next century, it turned into a meme that us in the SLS community use to mean what you said, however it actually just commemorates Boeing existing for 100 years, and that the next 100 years is starting with SLS's debut.

[@JKTCGMV13]

When I was a kid I had a loft bed and under it I had a poster of the space shuttle cockpit. My grandpa worked as a machinist and manager in the Rocketdyne machine shop where they made the shuttle engines, and after college my first job was at Rocketdyne where one thing I got to do was help restart the RS-25 production line. I still get goosebumps when I go out to museums or gift shops and see little shuttle models. I'm always learning new things watching videos like this.

[@iLL873]

Doing my bit for the algorithm.

[@SDG1309-ttv]

love the use of ksp either the models or the music, love it

[@larry_ellison]

Using kerbal music was cheeky

[@kopfauftischhau216]

47:25 If I recall it the main reason for the OMS boost wasnt the extra thrust, but the weight saving from burning the fuel (which was carried for abort scenarios). Couldnt quote where i read that, could be in Sivolellas book, but I recall reading something like that. Btw, great video, really glad i found the channel and now i know what i am going to do the rest of the evening. I am accutally surpised how much of the things mentioned i already knew. Which is slightly worrying considering the fact the time and effort spend learning about the shuttle could have spend more produtivly, but here were are ;)

[@StarmanAerospace]

Thank you for this. I honestly didn't know too much about the space shuttle before I watched this. This is definitely one of your best videos yet!

[@juhaeske]

You made, again, fantastic tribute to memory of the SLS, the Shuttle. Enjoyed!

[@lukasmetzger9349]

I’m absolutely comfortable alleging up to seven human skulls were flown on each and every shuttle mission.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Up to 8 actually 😎

[@CrazyChemistPL]

There's still something irreplaceable and just damn cool about flying your spacecraft back to Earth with a flight stick (yeah, I know most of the reentry was automated). Prior to the Shuttle it could only be accomplished in science fiction... and now it once again still is possible only there.

[@pierremaggi8661]

Mhhh, also the X-15 ?

[@Chris-lk3fq]

Nice! I was totally gripped right to the end. I am deeply impressed and a little envious of your knowledge of the STS. I think I knew about half of each of the first four levels. Well done. Great video. I can't believe I ever thought it might be too long. It was the perfect length. ❤

[@WaraxTheThird]

So glad I've found this channel. What a gem, already binged most of the videos. Deserves more recognition!

[@yogurtspace2062]

Some extra info The engine bell of the RS 25 was sized to have enough power at low atmosphere pressure instead of sea level or vacuum, thats why there is no staging on the shuttle. The rim of the RS 25 engine bell curves slightly inward, it's supposed to increase the power at low atmosphere but I'm not sure about the specific physcial reason. The shuttle was autogenously pressurized which meant the fuel and oxidizer tanks were pressurized by gas bled from the preburner, most rockets use helium instead but this requires more mass for the helium storage and piping.

[@tarnvedra9952]

The hump in the nozzle is there to prevent flow separation at low altitudes from what would be otherwise over-expanded nozzle. It does make vacuum performance worse but I guess not as much as correct ratio nozzle for sea-level.

[@jasonjavelin]

Growing up on Huntsville and having family that had jobs in the past related to Space I’ve always been blown away how much history is that the US Space and Rocket Center. Absolutely cool place if you event get the chance to go

[@winstonsmith7125]

50:48 NASA didn't custom build a mini tank, it's a commercial RC scale model. You can buy RC tanks of pretty much every WW2 tank. A big 1/16 scale model tank like that costs about a thousand bucks.

[@HalNordmann]

Yeah, it is a off-the-shelf RC chassis with a drill bolted on top

[@AQDuck]

40:14 I'll be real, I had _completely_ forgotten about Starliner until you mentioned it.

[@mobiuscoreindustries]

To be fair Boeing forgot about it too

[@theussmirage]

The Starliner should be ready just in time to ferry crew and supplies to the Starship Enterprise in the 23rd century, but given this is Boeing we're talking about, thats terribly optimistic

[@Peterincan]

On the subject of the Enterprise Space Station. I highly recommend reading Boldy Going: A History of an American Space Station. It's a fantastic alternate history timeline that explores the concept.

[@MuddaFocka]

I’ll never forget when they were flying one of the space shuttles to a museum after the program was ended, the plane transporting it had to fly very low for some reason I forgot and it flew right over our schools courtyard. I was only 8 or 9 so I knew next to nothing about NASA let alone the space shuttle, but seeing it fly past was so cool that I started being interested in space

[@UD503J]

I saw Atlantis being flown over where I lived in the 90's. I live in the Panhandle of Florida and they'd pretty routinely fly over on the last leg from Eglin AFB (about an hour to our west) down to KSC. A couple of times, toward the end of the program, the Shuttle would fly over the Panhandle for landings at KSC, and we heard the sonic boom. Now that SpaceX is flying the crew Dragon and goes into the Gulf a lot, we've heard it then too.

[@brycedonfrancisco2926]

I got to watch STS-135 in person. My aunt, who at the time was a high ranking officer in the air national guard, told my mother that if she knew what my aunt knew about that flight, she wouldn't never let me go watch it. I still to this day have no idea what she knows about that flight....

[@sundhaug92]

50:46 it wasn't styled like it, it was literally the bottom of a Tiger 2 model tank

[@xCheddarB0b42x]

"None of the Shuttle's abort procedures are very good options." At 19:51, we have this: the perfect, concise critique of this manned space flight program. People first.

[@buseyisgod]

Not-so-fun fact about the 1:1 reflight - the commander of the missions, Jim Halsell, is currently incarcerated in Alabama for a DUI in which he killed two children.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Jesus.

[@pseudotasuki]

47:55 DragonEye was used to prep for the original Cargo Dragon. That capsule was berthed, not docked. Considering how different those procedures are, it's unlikely that there's any direct inheritance to what's used on Dragon 2.

[@MrRrusiii]

49:40 Story is my grandfather's cousin, awesome guy.

[@jacobkluding]

Definitely one of my favourite youtube videos. Well done!

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Wow, thanks!

[@InsertGenuineName]

Endeavour support

[@thebigeasy2005]

Great video, lots of good nuggets in there, I’d like to add a couple. About the Return to launch site (RTLS) abort mode, some at NASA were very skeptical it would work. So much so that some of the NASA brass floated the idea that STS-1 would perform a RTLS abort to prove it would work. If memory serves me right, the shuttle wing load was rated at about 6g, while the pitch over and weight of the external tank would put roughly 9g on the wings. John Young absolutely refused to do that mission, as he said “RTLS requires continuous miracles interspersed with acts of god to be successful”. Another thing is that the crews that went in after the shuttle landed to help the crew out all said the smells were horrendous, but also that the astronauts had become nose blind to it. Another thing was the shuttle was originally intended to be much smaller, similar in size to the X-20 Dynasoar, launched in similar fashion, which was atop a Titan 3C, but because of budget cuts, NASA figured the only way to keep crewed missions going to space was to partner with the Air Force, to take military payloads up for them, thus the Air Force allocating some of their budget for the shuttle, but in turn they needed a large payload bay for things like keyhole, so the shuttle ended up becoming much larger and launched aside instead of on top.

[@samueloverend3517]

In addition to your last point, I remember reading somewhere that the Shuttle lift/drag was sized so it could launch into a polar orbit from Vandenberg, re-enter after one orbit and glide over the Pacific to land. Without this, the wings could be smaller & lighter and mass to orbit performance better. Though I can't remember where I read it, so it might just be space sausage.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

​@@samueloverend3517Scot Manley did a video on it i think

[@UD503J]

Somewhere at an air and space museum, there's a mockup model of an early Shuttle concept mounted to the top of a Saturn V S-IC first stage. There was at least a little bit of development put into the concept of keeping the Shuttle inline on the booster. This might have been in the DC-3 concept era, because the Shuttle I saw on that model looks a lot more like the 60's concept and less like the 70's concept Rockwell ended up building.

[@hydrogenbond7498]

Man what a video! I thought I had a good enough knowledge of spaceflight in general and shuttles and Apollo specifically but I'm glad I was wrong. It's always good to know less in first place. I thought I will make it all the way to the bottom but I started loosing stuff behind from the 4th tier and by the time Wayne Hale arrived, almost everything in that tier was new for me. Thanks for this video again.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Pixy335]

I never expected something like Tiger TAV to exist. Definitely the cutest aspect of the Shuttle Program.

[@superkartoffel7479]

Truly amazing. Imagine what kinds of obscure and utterly insane facts will make up spaceflight iceberg videos in 50 years!

[@bigships]

Here’s some food for thought. If Atlantis was lost on STS-27 (provided the shuttle program continues) what replaces her? Does Enterprise get her go or do we get OV-106

[@NewtNiko]

Wow, I’m really deep into the “Iceberg” KZbin iceberg now

[@kevinunknown6457]

I watched every bit. Really enjoyed it. I was born 72 and have witnessed the space shuttle in all its glory and the fist loss of it.... first hand on tv that day. I have learned a lot off this video that I would never in any single others. Keep up the good work.

[@cbspock1701]

Very interesting. I knew a lot of these. They are mentioned in the following books along with some things you didn’t mention. “Into the black”- development of the shuttle and a deep dive into sts1. “Bold they rise”- covers missions up to and including some of the challenger investigation. “Truth Lies and O-rings” - deep dive into Challenger and return to flight. “Wheels Stop” covers post challenger to the end of the program and looks at the replacement of shuttle. “Bringing Columbia Home” - deep dive into Columbia accident and her continuing science mission.

[@Globernaut]

Great vid! I've started debunking some of flerf's "debunks" of the shuttle program myself. This was full of good info!

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Glad it was helpful!

[@yatebe.]

Hey I just finished watching your iceberg video, and I really enjoyed it. I was actually playing Kerbal Space Program while listening so it was really fitting. I was wondering, if you do another iceberg video, can you do it on the Mercury or Apollo program? Thanks!!!

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

The next one will be an Apollo Iceberg 😄

[@yatebe.]

@@DKiSAerospaceHistory sweet, can’t wait for the Apollo iceberg!!!!

[@shannon9993]

Oh, that's fun. So, there are lyrics: "Come along Harry, and Marry and Joe/Pack up some lunches and everyone go/Fill up the camper, drive down to White Sands/And we'll pour the champagne when the space shuttle lands" --and now I'm wondering if the writer was particularly aware of the White Sands landing, or if it just really fit the stanza. (Lovely song. Witness' Waltz.)

[@ST21phil07]

"We're in a two engines out blue - We need to press buttons." Thats what I would have done too.

[@JW_934]

I really like this video.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

31:20 its amazing the shuttle even lifted off the pad with the massive steel balls those guys had.

[@Fanny-Fanny]

"A band of highly trained ninja squirrels, lead by a drunk old army hedgehog plan hyper-strategic tactical fun" is what I would comment on your amazing video, if I was not able to think of what to comment for the best tickle to the Al Gore Rhythm! Hurrah!

[@DEWalther2]

OV-103 Discovery had the teardrop window on the right hand side. Three tiles that were supposed to be white were in fact black. No one supposedly knows if it was a mistake when it was built.

[@markedwards5289]

Thank you for putting in the hard work for this highly educational video Enjoyed it immensely Keep up the good work

[@ianalfonzo8226]

One of my coworkers was an engineer for United Space Alliance during the shuttle program. He mainly worked on the landing chutes and the emergency escape systems.

[@AubriGryphon]

I first became aware of the Vandenburg facility because the OG space shuttle Lego set included a big red service structure that didn't at all resemble what I saw on TV at KSC. (Set 1682, released in 1990.) It wasn't until years later that I saw photos of the Vandy structure and realized that's what it was!

[@whiskytangofoxtrot2451]

Dude I love this your Mission Control sounding voice makes it even better

[@bez01234]

amazing work, would love to see iceberg about constellation program

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Great suggestion!

[@MikkoRantalainen]

Superb video! Thanks for sharing this.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

Thanks for watching!

[@lllLoko]

Most people are likely not aware that the Challenger crew compartment remained intact during the explosion and eventually plummeted to the sea, and it is possible that the crew were conscious the entire time, if they had not lost consciousness from decompression. Talk about horrifying.

[@JoegerFODC]

I like this iceberg, many Icebergs I've seen dive into speculation very quickly. This one was all documented happenings, much more interesting to me

[@dmacpher]

🐢 - also Hubble came after kh-11. Hubble used a spare kh-11 crystal mirror (they actually got donated 2). 😊

[@thelovertunisia]

Amazing channel. Keep the good work. Greetings from Tunisia.

[@Liguehunters]

Hey, Thank you for this video. I was just able to talk to one of the Persons that actually was able to go on the Space Shuttle. STS-99 It was definetely a fascinating launch vehicle.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

That is awesome!

[@Liguehunters]

@@DKiSAerospaceHistory The Twang was most definetely a real thing experienced by the astronauts on the Space Shuttles. He told me that it was much more noticable than he was told. The abort procedure after challenger of literally just having parachutes on the Astronauts for them to just be able to throw themselves out of the Shuttles was particularly interasting.

[@sebastiaomendonca1477]

1:05:26 to be fair, human skulls were flown on every STS mission

[@Forest_Fifer]

Finally got round to watching this, great stuff.

[@Dan_C604]

This is an amazing episode, well done and super interesting! I couldn’t avoid thinking about space and space program deniers. How do they explain ALL of this? All this development, missions, accidents, successes, etc etc etc. It would be literally impossible to think all this is empty cgi or actors. The program is so massive and so spread over years and different administrations that denial would. be simply absurd. Anyway, amazing episode. I learned a lot today!

[@deanmilos4909]

How would they bail out before impact with the surface in case a two out blue happened since the shuttles didn't have ejection seats , did they have parachutes, or something else?

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

They had parachutes, and an extending rod they could slide down so that they could clear the wing and OMS pods.

[@Heat_Lance]

I would like to add to the list "Space Shuttle America", which was a full scale replica built at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee IL. Inside it was a motion ride where the audience was shuttled around in space during an adventure. It was a lot of fun for a kid growing up in the 90s.

[@clevergirl4457]

I'm seated, and taking notes. Thank you so much for this.

[@tipwilkin]

I think you slightly overestimate the sorts of things "most" people know. Good video, keep it up.

[@thesinksinside]

Thank you for posting this! It's cool to see one of these on something i'm interested in

[@gasgaslex_photos]

Good job, a new video 😊 . Keep doing what you've doing .

[@maxx_2245]

The reason the Tyre Assault Vehicle is shaped like a Tiger II is because NASA used a Tamiya model kit as a base for it! It's very nerdy and amusing, and Tamiya still makes that model to this day. Thanks for the video!

[@simond.455]

Thank you very much for the facinating history lesson! 🚀

[@blazelutari8675]

I feel like the engineers saying no one might be more common if you've watched videos/documentaries describing Challenger, as it's really commonly pointed out in documentaries as a "man, what if NASA listened?" type thing.

[@jibcot8541]

I'm just so sad they cancelled the X-33/Venture Star replacement when it was 96% complete. An aero spike engine would have been revolutionary.

[@DKiSAerospaceHistory]

IMO a revolutionary, though flawed, design. Some reworking and reuse of hardware could have done great things.

[@maxarick2472]

Amazing video! I learn a ton of new things.

[@joshuaboulee8190]

Great video! You just earned my subscription