NASA

[basoora]

does anyone know what way NASA launches their space shuttles north, east, or west? i know it is not south. i think it is west but im not sure so please help!

[starbiter]

Hello Basoora: I've seen two shuttle launches. They both traveled SE. The launches are noisy, with the ground vibrating.

michael

[Siggy_G]

Q: Is it possible to launch and orbit to east to west and why is it that the shuttle and station orbit cross north to south rather than just always heading east?

A: I love this question! You go from east to west because it's the direction that the Earth rotates in and you want to take advantage of the spin of the Earth. If you tried to go in the other direction you are going to have to fight. (...)

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights ... le_qa.html

The last few questions on that page is more or less related to orientation of the shuttles.

[jjohnson]

Polar orbiting satellites can be and have been launched from Capa Canaveral, too. Most polar orbits, with the exception of some weather and similar civilian science satellites,are used by military satellites, particularly reconnaissance birds which need good all-latitude coverage and many looks per day.

In addition to the physics (eastward rotation improves fuel efficiency for reaching orbital velocity) there are safety considerations - avoiding launching over populated land areas is an important concern in case of failure, and increasingly the threat of terrorist interference with a launch is easier to overcome if you launch out over a cleared oceanic area. East to west launches (yes; they are possible) are a waste as there is no particular advantage to that direction of travel, you start on the ground already carrying a retrograde velocity vector (!how dumb is that?) and you are heading up in the opposite direction to the swarm of junk, increasing the closing velocities with unwanted neighbors. Bad for manned and unmanned birds alike.