Nasa shuttle flights

[27-steps]

Just out of curiosity,when the shuttle blasts off and it creates all that thrust/smoke,do nasa just let it disperse or do they have a method of controling it?, what about pollution etc.

[RATTER15]

I would imagine that in the grand scheme of things the pollution would be quite minimal and very localised.

[bednobs]

isn't it steam rather than dust or smoke?

[27-steps]

Dont know if it is gas,steam,heat,smoke,but it creates a lot of it!.

[Milvus]

It's steam. They pour water into the ground vents for the jet thrust

[dundurn]

The Shuttle main engines are pretty pollution-free - liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen giving rise to water/steam as reaction mass. The solid rocket booterss are entirely another matter. They produce HCl and various oxide of nitrogen and are known destroyers of ozone.

[Clanad]

I hope everyone has had the opportunity to see this:

http://shortarmguy.bl...tle-launch-photo.html

[beso]

The solid boosters burn aluminium with an aluminium perchlorate oxidiser.