--- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
So now I'm wondering why about 11 shuttle flights have been inclined 39 degrees and a few others 57 degrees.
Any guesses out there?
Well, let's see... the lower the inclination, the less energy required to orbit, -or- a larger possible orbit. With an inclination equal to your latitude, you could probably effect an emergency re-entry over most of each orbit & make your launch/landing site. The higher the inclination, the more geography you can cover, though this removes a lot of the re-entry options. 39 & 57 degrees? What's at that latitude, either south or north, that some branch of the US government would be interested in seeing? Is this where you're heading, Patrick? C. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com