Endeavour on the Flip Side

Watch Space shuttle Endeavour perform a back flip in space as it approaches the International Space Station.

About an hour before docking, STS-123 Commander Dominic Gorie and Pilot Gregory H. Johnson guided the shuttle through a back-flip maneuver, giving the Expedition 16 crew the opportunity to take pictures of the orbiter's protective heat-resistant tiles. These photos will be sent to engineers on Earth for analysis.

As the shuttle bellies up to the station, the station crew has about 9 minutes to snap up as many photos as it can. The digital snapshots are downlinked to Earth to check for chips and dings on the surface of the tiles, which act as the vehicle's heat shield.

Tiles range in thickness from a quarter-inch to four-and-a-half inches thick. The space shuttle leading edges and the nose cone are made of reinforced carbon-carbon material capable of withstanding temperatures up to 3,600 degrees, now that's a hottie!

About an hour before docking, STS-123 Commander Dominic Gorie and Pilot Gregory H. Johnson guided the shuttle through a back-flip maneuver, giving the Expedition 16 crew the opportunity to take pictures of the orbiter's protective heat-resistant tiles. These photos will be sent to engineers on Earth for analysis.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• space
• shuttle
• rendezvouspitchmaneuver
• backflip
• flip
• nasa
• endeavour
• rpm
• astronauts
• sts-123
• docking
• station
• iss

[bagabagabop1]

Thats my dad!

[alphadog7473]

This is known as the pitch maneuver ,people aboard the ISS do an inspection of the orbiter too assure the is no damage visible to the tiles and other components on the orbiter, how I would love to fly that beast....only a dream...but its mine

[drsheikhjunior]

I didnt see any RCS thruster firings on the shuttle.How did they make the RPM anyways?

[josephaboothii]

The shots are coming from the international space station. The vehicle is between the earth and the space station. Super fantastic view; right?

[OhMyScience1]

They filmed it from the International Space Station.

[christiantsaxeide]

Whos filming?! And how?

[DJBrokenHigh]

Space is soooo cool!

[foley15136]

Nice

[Jmcenanly]

Someone should set this to music. Johann Strauss' Beautiful Blue Danube would be appropriate

[byrdk50]

I agree!!!!!