in article , John at
wrote on 12/22/06 3:31 PM:

Vandar wrote:

Is the primary function of the chute to drop the nose or to slow the Shuttle,
or a combination of the two? I noticed it was jettisoned shortly after the
nose touch down, so I'm wondering what the primary purpose of the chute is.

As a follow-up: What is the actual distance the Shuttle needs from touch down
to wheels stop? I know optimal runway length is a couple miles, but it looked
like that thing came to a stop rather quickly. Does it only use half the
length of the strip? Would an extra (or larger) chute help shorten the
required runway length, similar to what you see in drag racing?

You can hit me with the technical jargon if need be. I'm not intimately
familiar with the program, but I'm a devout follower and have lurked around
these parts for years.

Thanks.

The primary purpose of the chute is to slow the vehicle down. They don't need
help dropping the nose, in fact, the crew works to do so slowly and smoothly.
I agree the roll-out seemed short and I suspect that landing into a 16 - 20
knot headwind was a nice contributing factor.

I seem to recall that the chute was added to help take load of the nose gear
at touch down.

George Evans