continued… We looked at the Atlantis Space Shuttle for a few minutes from different angles. She flew 33 missions, spent 307 days in space and flew 126-million miles. Her final flight finished on July 21, 2011.

Per the signs, Atlantis had three types of engines. The largest, or main engine, was used only for the first 8.5 minutes of take-off, and worked in conjunction with the rocket boosters to launch the shuttle into orbit. It had four turbo pumps, a computer controller and a network of ducts, wiring and valves and was able to withstand the release of 500,000 pounds (2,224 kN) of thrust. These fuel in the engines was -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-253 C), which was colder than Pluto. Inside the engine it was 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3316 C), hotter than the boiling point of copper. These engines had the most extreme temperature differential of all machines in the entire world.

The Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines allowed the shuttle to fly like a space craft. The Reaction Control System (RCS) was used for maneuvering in space. The RCS had 44 jets in total, located on both the front and back of the vessel. Instead of fuel, it was powered by two chemicals that ignited on contact with one another. The RCS allowed the Orbiter to change speed, direction, dock with the International Space Station and, most importantly, made it possible to de-orbit and go back to Earth. The wings landed the space shuttle like a glider.

The payload bay (the hollow space between the nose and back jets) defined the Space Shuttle. It was 15-feet (4.5 meters) wide and 60-feet (18 meters) long. The payload carried satellites, planetary probes, space telescopes, pieces of the International Space Station, laboratories, and more from Earth to space.

To regulate heat inside the Space Shuttle, a network of liquid filled tubes ran through the vehicle, collecting heat as it moved. Once the liquid got hot, it was circulated through the payload bay doors and radiated the heat out into space.

There was a model of the Mission Control Center, but it was packed with people and claustrophobic, so we just took a quick peek.

After we got a good look at the shuttle, we began wandering around, looking at the exhibits. The first one we came to was about the Hubble Telescope.

In April 1990, the telescope was brought into orbit and deployed by the Space Shuttle. Hubble orbited 300 miles (483 km) above Earth, contained specialized mirrors, computers and navigation equipment, had multi-layered insulation to protect it from the harsh space environment and was powered by solar arrays that turned the sunlight into usable energy. There were five subsequent Space Shuttle missions back to Hubble to do maintenance, repairs and upgrades, with the last one executed in May 2009.

Hubble has revolutionized our understanding of the solar system via the hundreds of thousands of beautiful images it has captured and transmitted back to Earth, including parts of our universe that had never been seen before. It has helped to shed light on the age of the universe, the nature of quasars, the behavior of black holes and the existence of dark energy, to name just a few examples. Interestingly, programs developed for Hubble have been utilized in various facets of life on Earth. For example, a program created to track star configurations was adapted to identify and track endangered animals.

There was a display on space suits. Since the astronauts were going to be doing a lot more extra-vehicular activity (EVA), which was what NASA called spacewalking, the suits were upgraded for the Space Shuttle astronauts. The 14-layer suits pressurized against the vacuum of space, provided breathable air, filtered out waste air, and protected against the extreme temperatures. They had a small computer that controlled temperature, pressure and communication. The suits weighed almost 300 pounds (136 kg) on Earth, but weighed almost nothing in space. During EVAs, the astronauts tested new equipment, improved spacewalking techniques, performed complex repair jobs, and assembled the international space station.

It took 160 spacewalks to assemble the space station. They assembled it using a giant robotic arm called a Canadarm that was controlled by a joystick and control panel inside the Orbiter. The Canadarm was also used to move astronauts on spacewalks, as well as deploy and retrieve satellites. Equipped with cameras, the Canadarm also inspected the Orbiter for damage and filmed IMAX movies. Between all the Space Shuttle missions, a total of 180 satellites were launched.

Fun fact: the same engineering team that developed the Canadarm also developed the first robot that performed precision surgeries on patients who were inside an MRI machine, called NeuroArm. The neurosurgeon would use the robotic arm to perform microscopic surgeries while looking at the brain images in real time.

Almost every Space Shuttle mission had science projects onboard that the astronauts performed. On 16 of the missions, they utilized a reusable space laboratory, called Spacelab, that was kept in the payload bay.

Just as there had been a gently sloping walkway that led up to the theater, there was also a gently sloping walkway back down. We started down the slope. We came to an exhibit where we crawled through a tube that, if we remember correctly, was supposed to simulate the spaces that the astronauts had to navigate inside the Space Shuttle.

The tube going back to the entrance was clear, which, if we recall correctly, was supposed to simulate what it felt like to be in space. Going through that tube and seeing how far of a drop it was to the ground was disconcerting.

Another interactive exhibit along the slope was a slide. We don’t remember what it was trying to simulate, but it was fun!

To be continued…