## Preparation

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle needs an enormous amount of energy to escape from the earth’s gravity and go into an orbit around the world. This energy is provided by the rockets boosters which are located on either side of the rusty orange-coloured external propellant tank.

In figure 18 you can see the white solid rocket boosters (SRB’s) and the orange external tank (ET), on which the shuttle is mounted. The solid rocket fuel is used up within 2 minutes after launch and provides about 80% of lift-off thrust. The other 20% is provided by the fuel in the external tank. The external tank supplies this fuel to the three main engines of the Space Shuttle.

Figure 19 shows the dimensions of the external tank. The fuel in the SBR’s and in the ET have to bring the Space Shuttle into orbit.