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Which manned spacecraft has made the quickest complete orbit of the
earth? I found that the Apollo 17 parking orbit was 90.3 by 90.0 nautical miles with a period of 87.83 minutes. (According to Orloff in Apollo By The Numbers http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm). Its average orbit was below any orbit completed by Vostok, Mercury, Voskhod, Gemini**, Apollo or Skylab missions according to the NASA Goddard NSSDC Master Catalog (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html). I haven't checked Soyuz, Shuttle or Shenzhou flights yet. Does anyone know of a manned spacecraft the completed a lower orbit? **Gemini 3's final orbit is given as 84 km X 169 km 87 m, but part of that was re-entry. -Rusty |
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"Rusty" wrote in news:1133835537.935946.298770
@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com: Which manned spacecraft has made the quickest complete orbit of the earth? I found that the Apollo 17 parking orbit was 90.3 by 90.0 nautical miles with a period of 87.83 minutes. (According to Orloff in Apollo By The Numbers http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm). Its average orbit was below any orbit completed by Vostok, Mercury, Voskhod, Gemini**, Apollo or Skylab missions according to the NASA Goddard NSSDC Master Catalog (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html). I haven't checked Soyuz, Shuttle or Shenzhou flights yet. Does anyone know of a manned spacecraft the completed a lower orbit? I don't know, but I'll save you some time by saying you won't find it among the shuttle flights. -- JRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. |
#3
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![]() "Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message ... "Rusty" wrote in news:1133835537.935946.298770 @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com: Which manned spacecraft has made the quickest complete orbit of the earth? I found that the Apollo 17 parking orbit was 90.3 by 90.0 nautical miles with a period of 87.83 minutes. (According to Orloff in Apollo By The Numbers http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/SP-4029.htm). Its average orbit was below any orbit completed by Vostok, Mercury, Voskhod, Gemini**, Apollo or Skylab missions according to the NASA Goddard NSSDC Master Catalog (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html). I haven't checked Soyuz, Shuttle or Shenzhou flights yet. Does anyone know of a manned spacecraft the completed a lower orbit? I don't know, but I'll save you some time by saying you won't find it among the shuttle flights. My guess would be Garagin (if you count his flight as really an "orbit".) After that, perhaps Glenn? Now how about the opposite, longest? -- JRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. |
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On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 04:28:17 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote: Now how about the opposite, longest? Apollo 13. Brian |
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![]() "Brian Thorn" wrote in message ... On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 04:28:17 GMT, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)" wrote: Now how about the opposite, longest? Apollo 13. Hmm, I was tempted to disqualify Apollo missions since at first pass I was thinking they didn't complete an actual orbit (having gone into orbit around the Moon and spending less than 28 days there.) But this is the obvious answer I suppose. Hmm, since Apollo 13 re-entered though is that properly an orbit? Brian |
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In article ,
Greg D. Moore \(Strider\) wrote: Hmm, I was tempted to disqualify Apollo missions since at first pass I was thinking they didn't complete an actual orbit (having gone into orbit around the Moon and spending less than 28 days there.) But this is the obvious answer I suppose. Hmm, since Apollo 13 re-entered though is that properly an orbit? Remember that they departed from parking orbit. From TLI to reentry they made roughly one complete lap around the Earth, but since they'd made about 1.5 orbits of their parking orbit first, you can always include a little bit of that to make it unquestionably a full lap. -- spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. | |
#7
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Rusty wrote:
Apollo 14 100.1 by 98.9 n mi 88.18 minutes snip Apollo 17 90.3 by 90.0 n mi 87.83 minutes OK, dumbass orbital mechanics question time. I thought the simple rule was that the lower you are, the faster you go. So if Apollo 14 was in a orbit roughly 10nm higher than Apollo 17, how could it be faster? Unless Orloff is wrong... Justin |
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Justin Wigg wrote:
Rusty wrote: Apollo 14 100.1 by 98.9 n mi 88.18 minutes snip Apollo 17 90.3 by 90.0 n mi 87.83 minutes OK, dumbass orbital mechanics question time. I thought the simple rule was that the lower you are, the faster you go. So if Apollo 14 was in a orbit roughly 10nm higher than Apollo 17, how could it be faster? lol - can't read! :-) 87 ! 88 Need glasses in my old age... Justin |
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