Yoda

. Unlike the shuttle, this future launcher and associated crew exploration vehicle will have a launch escape system to save the crew in the event of a disaster. Yogurt teaches Lone Star the ways of the "Schwartz" (parody of the Force; "Schwartz" is a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname). This contrasts with the current shuttle where astronauts and heavy cargo are launched in a single vehicle. In the Mel Brooks movie Spaceballs, the character Yogurt, who is played by Mel Brooks himself, is an obvious spoof on Yoda, but is also considered to be a spoof on Obi-Wan Kenobi. This technology would be used to develop two separate launchers, one for manned missions and the other for unmanned heavy cargo. The footage showed Yoda denying the allegations, and then being shown in a videotape using cocaine and making indecent sexual proposals to a young Jedi student. NASA plans on using modified shuttle components to build an expendable Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicle.

Dave Chappelle did a Parody on Chappelle's Show that accused the Jedi Masters of sexually assaulting their traineees, featuring Yoda as a prime offender. NASA currently uses these for unmanned launches, and plans to use them for future manned launches. Todd Downing parodies Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" with the song "Livin' La Vida Yoda." More recently, "The Great Luke Ski" parodied the song "YMCA" by the Village People with a version titled "Y.O.D.A." included on the albums Fanboys ‘n Da Hood (1996) and Carpe Dementia (1999). Another approach is lower cost expendable launch vehicles. The comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song "Lola" by the Kinks with a remake titled "Yoda", included on the album Dare to Be Stupid (1985). Like the X-33, the X-30 encountered major technical difficulties, primarily due to the system complexity and materials required for hypersonic flight, and was finally cancelled. According to many Lucasfilm reports, Yoda has been redone in CGI for a later release of The Phantom Menace. This edition will most likely be part of a prequel trilogy pack. The official name was the Rockwell X-30.

Despite the use of advanced technology, his performance was deliberately designed to match the puppet version, with some "mistakes" made such as the occasional ear-jiggling. Department of Defense, but passenger-carrying civilian versions were planned, sometimes called the "New Orient Express". In Revenge of the Sith his face appears in several big close-ups, demanding highly-detailed CGI work. It was originally investigated by the U.S. Rendered with computer animation in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Yoda appeared in ways not previously possible, including his participation in elaborate fight scenes. It would achieve much of orbital velocity while still within the upper atmosphere. He was computer-generated for two distant shots, but remained mostly a puppet. This would be launched and landed horizontally like an airliner.

In The Phantom Menace, he was redesigned to look younger. Another variant of SSTO is a hypersonic, scramjet-powered, airbreathing vehicle. In the original Star Wars trilogy, he is realized as a puppet (controlled by Oz). During design that program increased in complexity and development cost, encountered problems and was finally cancelled. Yoda is voiced by Frank Oz. NASA evaluated several concepts in the 1990s, and selected the X-33, which would eventually have been the Venturestar. Yoda's appearance was originally designed by British makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, who based Yoda's face partly on his own and partly on Albert Einstein's, as his eyes are supposedly inspired by the latter. One approach is Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO), which would be 100% reusable and use a single stage.

Moreover, like Yoda, they were master teachers and devoted their lives to preserving the ways of their martial-arts for the good of mankind. In general future designers look to less complex, more reliable launch systems with lower maintenance costs. Their arts both centered on Aiki and the ever present ki (the Force) in their techniques. Nixon in 1971 [4], the operational costs, flight rate, payload capacity, and reliability have been worse than anticipated. Like Yoda, they were very short; this did not hinder their extraordinary martial ability, however. While it was developed within the original development cost and time estimates given to President Richard M. Similarly, Gozo, martial-master of Yoshinkan Aikido, stood just under 4'11". Opinions differ on the lessons of the Shuttle.

The master swordsman Takeda, standing just under 4'11", earned the nickname Aizu no Kotengu (the little goblin). Advances in technology over the last decade have made probes smaller and lighter, and as a result unmanned probes and communications satellites can use relatively cheap and reliable expendable rockets, including Delta launcher, and Atlas V. This art, Daito-ryu, is accepted as the primary ancestral art to Aikido. The Shuttle's history of unexpected delays also makes it liable to miss the narrow launch windows. Takeda is credited with introducing the once privately practiced martial-art of the Takeda samurai family to the world. Following the Challenger disaster, carrying in the shuttle payload bay the powerful liquid fueled Centaur upper stages planed for interplanetary probes was ruled out. Basis for this assumption points to the late Sokaku Takeda and Gozo Shioda. NASA's plan for using the shuttle to launch all unmanned payloads declined, then was discontinued.

The basis for Yoda's character may be derived as a duality between two, since passed, Japanese martial masters. No other launch vehicle had the shuttle's payload capability or could return large items from the space station to earth. His food is never named but it is mentioned as a stew, but it is also said there was "stewed tendon" in it. Even though the initially planned Space Station Freedom was signficantly scaled back, the shuttle was still vital to service it. Yoda is seen eating in the Clone Wars novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. During development, shuttle features were primarily chosen based on capability required to service the future space station. Yoda is never shown eating what is easily recognizable as a meat product; however, we only see Yoda for a relatively short period of time in the Star Wars films, and in that time, see him eat only twice. The result is high labor cost, with around 25,000 workers in Shuttle operations and labor costs of about $1 billon per year.

Some have suggested that this is due to the strong empathy he feels with all living beings through the Force. Furthermore, because in some cases there are no survivable abort modes, many pieces of hardware simply must function perfectly and so must be carefully inspected before each flight. Though he lives in a world teeming with animal life, his choice of food has led some to believe that he adheres to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Because loss of crew is unacceptable, the primary focus of the Shuttle program is to return the crew to Earth safely, which can conflict with other goals, namely to launch payloads cheaply. When we first meet Yoda, he cooks up a stew of roots and leaves to share with Luke Skywalker. Instead, this turnaround process usually takes months, however once Columbia was launched twice within 56 days. Another item unique to Master Yoda is a blissl, an instrument similar to a panflute, which he wears around his neck while on Dagobah. After landing, the orbiter would be checked out and start "mating" to the rest of the system (the ET and SRBs), and be ready for launch in as little as two weeks.

In the Expanded Universe, it is revealed that one of his canes is a gift from the Wookiees, and that his gimer stick cane contains nutrients that can sustain him were he to chew on it. The Shuttle was originally conceived to operate somewhat like an airliner. When not actively using the Force, the elderly Yoda walks with a cane. Some reasons for higher than expected operational costs can be ascribed to:. This is due to the fact that once translated into Italian, Yoda's manner of speaking is very close to the Sardinian accent that in Italy is considered humorous, even slightly ridiculous. Another way to calculate launch cost is the incremental expense of adding a single additional shuttle mission, which is is about $100 million. For Italian fans of the Star Wars series, especially children, Yoda is often referred as "The Sardinian One" or "The One Who Speaks Sardinian". Some of this can be attributed to operating beyond the 10-year anticipated lifespan of each Shuttle, and higher than anticipated maintenance costs.

A typical example of Yoda's speech pattern is from Return of the Jedi: "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not." This speech pattern has been the source of much parody. This has been much more expensive than anticipated. In linguistic typology this is the "Object Subject Verb" format. This includes all related costs such as maintenance, ground facilities, training, etc., and divides that figure by the number of shuttle flights. Yoda speaks "Galactic Basic" in a distinctive manner by placing verbs (and more frequently, auxiliary verbs) after the object and subject. There are various ways to calculate costs -- the $500 million figure inclues all operational details of maintaining and servicing the Shuttle fleet. To all of them, the humble Yoda, who offers enlightened leadership, epitomizes the ideals of the Jedi Order; the grandmaster of that august body is widely known as a sage instructor. Per launch costs are roughly $500 million today.

(In the beginning of their training, students may not see eye-to-eye with him, but eventually come to see the significance of his teachings.) Among his colleagues on the Jedi Council, he is known to have a penchant for mischief and practical jokes. However, this does not fully explain the high shuttle operational costs. To his students, the elfin Yoda can appear as either very strict or like a grandfather, testing them to mental and physical extremes one moment and showing warmth the next. Nixon in 1971 [3]. These skills, in particular, show a far more profound knowledge of the Force than most Jedi Masters or Sith Lords of his time possess. In fact when discounting inflation, the shuttle development program was within the initial cost estimate given to President Richard M. He can purge dark side manifestations through the use of Force Light and feel the deaths of individual people and can identify them. When evaluating shuttle development costs in later-year dollars, this superficially appeared to be a large cost overrun in the program.

Yoda is even able to use Battle Meditation to win battles by lifting the morale of thousands of companions while simultaneously dampening the spirits of thousands of his opponents. Between when the program began in 1972, and first flight in 1982, inflation increased prices over 200%. Master Yoda can dissipate and deflect Force Lightning, telekinetically lift enormous objects, including an X-wing starfighter, and use Force Push to an untold degree. suffered from severe inflation. Yoda is a great contributor to the highest level of Jedi strategy, and is also a worldly diplomat comparable to Windu. During the 1970s the U.S. He is an exceptional swordsman, displaying amazing speed and dexterity, leaping through the air and twirling as he batters at an opponent's defenses. One reason behind this apparent failure is inflation.

His mastery in Form IV Ataru lightsaber combat enables him to overcome the limitations of his height and reach. Although the final design differs from the original concept, the project was still supposed to meet USAF goals and be much cheaper to fly in general. Yoda, having mastered all seven forms of lightsaber combat, is considered one of the best duelists in the Jedi Order of his day; Jedi Master Mace Windu seems to be the only Jedi who can equal Yoda in that regard. Although it did operate as the world's first reusable crew-carrying spacecraft, it did not improve on those parameters in any meaningful way, and is considered by some to have failed in its original purpose. Later that night, Luke sees his father's spirit looking at him with pride and gratitude, in the company of Obi-Wan Kenobi and their once and future master, Yoda. It was intended to improve greatly on the previous generation of single-use manned and unmanned vehicles. Anakin dies in his son's arms as the Empire crumbles around them. The original mission of the Shuttle was to operate at a high flight rate, at low cost, and with high reliability.

When the Emperor tries to kill Luke with Force lightning, Vader redeems himself, and once again becomes Anakin Skywalker, by killing his master to save his son. [2]. Yoda's teachings eventually save Luke from giving in to his anger and falling to the dark side; he remembers to control his feelings just as he is seconds away from killing Vader and becoming the Emperor's new apprentice. NASA's budget for 2005 allocates 30%, or $5 billion, to Space Shuttle operations. Every single death before and after occurs violently and unnaturally. The total cost of the program has been $145 billion as of early 2005 ($112 billion of which was incurred while the program was operational) and is estimated at $174 billion when the Shuttle retires in 2010. Yoda then dies at the age of 900 and becomes "one with the Force." Yoda's death is unique within the Star Wars universe as he is the only character to die peacefully from natural causes. While the Shuttle has been a reasonably successful launch vehicle, it has been unable to meet its goal of radically reducing flight launch costs, as the average launch expenditures during its operations up to 2005 accumulates to $1.3 billion [1], a rather large figure compared to the initial projections of $10 to $20 million.

When Luke returns to Dagobah in 4 ABY (Return of the Jedi), Yoda, sick and greatly weakened by old age, informs Luke that he has completed his training but will not be a Jedi until he defeats his father, Darth Vader. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board called this tendency the "normalization of deviance" -- a gradual acceptance of abnormal events simply because they haven't been catastrophic to date. Luke promises to return to complete his training. Over time NASA managers gradually accepted more tile damage, similar to how O-ring damage was accepted. Prior to finishing his training, however, Luke chooses to leave Dagobah in order to confront Darth Vader and save his friends from the Empire's grasp at Bespin. The original shuttle operational specification said the orbiter thermal protection tiles were designed to withstand virtually no debris hits at all. After initial reluctance, Yoda agrees to teach him in the ways of the Force. The foam had not been designed or expected to break off, but had been observed in the past to do so without incident.

22 years after Yoda's exile, in 3 ABY (The Empire Strikes Back), Luke Skywalker arrives at Dagobah to seek Yoda's guidance after being told by the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who died during a duel with Darth Vader in A New Hope. Columbia failed because of damaged thermal protection from foam debris that broke off the external tank during ascent. Yoda does not appear and isn't even mentioned in A New Hope. Challenger's O-ring eroded completely through, with fatal results. Yoda then retreats to Dagobah, a swampy and deserted planet, patiently waiting for a new hope. Unfortunately NASA and Thiokol senior managers overruled him and allowed the launch to proceed. As we know from later films, this strategy certainly pays off. He raised concerns that the unusually cold temperatures would stiffen the O-rings, preventing a complete seal.

In addition, the twins' anonymity would be more difficult to protect if the Sith were to discover the remaining Jedi Knights before Luke and/or Leia were ready. Morton Thiokol designed and manufactured the SRBs, and during a pre-launch conference call with NASA, the Thiokol engineer most experienced with the O-rings pleaded repeatedly to cancel or reschedule the launch. Other than the ancient Jedi Master, only the Organas, the Lars, and Obi-Wan know of their placement (it is unlikely that the Lars were fully aware of Leia's existence, however.) Originally, Obi-Wan wants to have both Yoda and himself take one child each to separate spots and train the children in the ways of the Force, but Yoda realizes that there are other ways to learn discipline than just Jedi training, and that Luke and Leia will need to be trained differently if they are going to defeat the Empire. Instead of finding out why, managers felt because it had not previously eroded by more than 30%, that this was not a hazard as there was "a factor of three safety margin". He is also instrumental in deciding the fate of the Skywalker children after Padmé dies in childbirth, recommending that Luke and Leia be hidden from Darth Vader and his Emperor in unsuspecting and remote locations. In the case of Challenger, an O-ring which should not have eroded at all did, in fact, erode on earlier shuttle launches. Although this is given little attention in the film, in the novelization it is revealed that Yoda actually becomes Padawan to the deceased Jedi Master's Force ghost, learning the secret of immortality from him and passing it onto Obi-Wan. In both cases a mind set among senior managers developed that concerns had to be objectively proven rather than simply suspected.

At the end, it is revealed that Yoda has been in contact with Qui-Gon's spirit. A heavily layered, procedure-oriented bureaucratic structure inhibited necessary communication and action. His transformation into a fearsome cyborg serves as a grim fulfillment to Yoda's words to Obi-Wan upon learning of Anakin's fall from grace: "The boy you trained, gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader.". In both cases the vehicle gave ample warning beforehand of abnormal problems. Anakin, meanwhile, loses his limbs and nearly burns to death while battling Obi-Wan; these injuries cost him much of his Force-potential, and the cybernetic enhancements Palpatine administers to save his life render him (seemingly) less than human. In both cases, junior engineers were greatly concerned about possible problems, but these concerns were not properly communicated to or understood by senior NASA managers. Yoda then goes into exile to hide from the Empire and to wait for another opportunity to destroy the Sith. In both cases events happened which were not planned for or anticipated.

With Clone Troopers about to arrive and the Sith's near-destruction of the Jedi Order, Yoda is weakened and realizes that he cannot defeat Palpatine. While the technical details of the accidents are quite different, the organizational problems show remarkable similarities. Yoda, unable to maintain his grasp, falls to the floor of the Senate chamber. This gives a 2% death rate per astronaut per flight. Both Masters are able to grasp the edge of nearby Senate pods, with Palpatine barely managing to hold on. Two Shuttles have been destroyed in 114 missions, both with the loss of the entire crew of seven:. Just as it seems that Yoda is about to gain the upperhand however, the fight ends in a stalemate, an explosion caused by the clash of energies hurling Palpatine and Yoda apart. † Satellites deployed
* This was flight STS-80, during November 1996.

Without his lightsaber, Yoda resorts to using his palms to absorb the dark energy, managing to even reflect some of its power back at a surprised Palpatine. Whilst all three Orbiters are externally very similar, they have minor internal differences; new equipment is fitted on a rotating basis as they are maintained, and the newer Orbiters tend to be structurally lighter. Palpatine counters with a barrage of Force Lightning, taking the elderly Jedi Master off guard, and disarming him. Individual Orbiters are both named, in a manner similar to ships, and numbered, using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation system. As Palpatine lands, Yoda reappears suddenly with a Force Jump, brandishing his lightsaber. After landing the vehicle stands on the runway to permit the poisonous hydrazine fumes used for part of the attitude control during descent to dissipate. In an attempt to end the contest, Palpatine takes the higher ground, and uses the Force to hurl heavy Senate pods at Yoda, who in turn deftly dodges most of them, and sends one back at Palpatine, forcing the latter to jump to a lower level. Landing speed is very high -- 213 to 255 mph, vs 160 mph for a jet airliner.

The fight seems evenly matched between the two patriarchs of both sides of the Force, with neither Form IV master able to overcome the other. It glides to landing with a glide angle of 4:1. Subsequently, Yoda battles Palpatine in a titanic struggle that wrecks the Senate building. In the lower atmosphere the orbiter flies much like a conventional glider, except for a much higher descent rate, over 10,000 feet per minute (roughly 20 times that of an airliner). Yoda refuses, saying, "To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough you are not.". Attitude control is achieved from a mixture of RCS thrusters and control surfaces. Kenobi wants to switch opponents, as he would rather not have to fight with his beloved pupil. This is achieved by performing s-curves at up to 70 degree bank angle.

Upon discovering a holographic recording revealing Anakin as the assassin, Yoda sends Kenobi to kill his former Padawan. In addition, the standard reentry aims deliberately high- the vehicle needs to bleed off extra altitude and speed to reach the landing site. This gives him ample warning, and he swiftly kills the clone troopers sent to dispatch him, escapes with the help of Wookiee leaders Tarfful and Chewbacca, and returns to Coruscant, where he and Obi-Wan fight their way into the Jedi Temple to stop a trap for any Jedi who also survived Order 66. The vehicle attitude is controlled to take on a nose up attitude of up 40 degrees to maximise drag. He feels the deaths of each of the Jedi as they are cut down by the very troops they led. The vehicle will then start significantly entering the atmosphere at about 400,000 ft doing around Mach 25. When Palpatine, now self-appointed Emperor of the Galactic Empire, implements Order 66, Yoda is on Kashyyyk, overseeing the battle between the Separatist forces and a combined command of clone troopers and Wookiees. However the reentry can be and has (once) been flown manually.

For all his mastery of the Force, however, Yoda does not foresee Anakin's fall to the dark side of the Force. The entire reentry, except for the lowering of the undercarriage, is under complete computer control. Yoda uses his incredible sensitivity and power with the Force to sense the Sith Lord's presence, finally concluding that Sidious is someone within Palpatine's inner circle. This OMS firing is done roughly halfway around the globe from the landing site. It is at about this time that Yoda leads the Council in pursuing the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The deceleration of the Shuttle lowers its orbit perigee down into the atmosphere. They know that to give him the rank of Master will also give him a vote in all Council matters, and would be the same as giving Palpatine a vote in the Council — something they were not willing to allow. The vehicle begins reentry by firing the OMS engines in the opposite direction to the orbital motion for about three minutes.

Yoda and Mace Windu continue to be powerful forces in the young Jedi's ascension in the order, as they deny him the rank of Jedi Master. The Shuttle then fires the OMS engines to circularize the orbit and avoid reentry. Again, the Council is hesitant about Anakin's temperament but acquiesces to the request. At this point the Shuttle is still slightly suborbital, since the trajectory intersects the atmosphere. In 19 BBY (Revenge of the Sith), Chancellor Palpatine, who by now has near-absolute power in the Galactic Senate, appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his own representative. The tank then falls to largely burn up in the atmosphere, with some fragments falling into the Indian Ocean. Although seemingly frail, the ancient Yoda demonstrates a legendary mastery of lightsaber combat (Form IV lightsaber combat, known for using the Force to achieve extreme acrobatics - see the seven forms of lightsaber combat). Before complete depletion of propellant (running dry would destroy the engines) the main engines are shutdown, and the empty external tank is released by firing explosive bolts.

This confrontation ends with Dooku narrowly escaping by threatening Yoda's injured comrades Anakin and Obi-Wan. Finally, in the last tens of seconds of the main engine burn, the mass of the vehicle is low enough that the engines must be throttled back to limit vehicle acceleration to 3g, largely for astronaut health and comfort. At the climax of the battle, Yoda duels with Separatist leader and Sith Lord Count Dooku, who was once Yoda's Jedi apprentice. The vehicle continues to climb and takes on a somewhat nose-up angle to the horizon — it uses the main engines to gain and then maintain altitude whilst it accelerates horizontally towards orbit. He leads the group which rescues Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé Amidala from execution at the hands of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, aka the Separatists. However, as the burn continues, the weight of the propellant reduces, the ever-lighter vehicle produces more and more acceleration until the thrust to weight ratio exceeds 1 again and the vehicle can hold itself up. In 22 BBY (Attack of the Clones), Yoda is a key Republic general at the Battle of Geonosis, when the clone trooper Army of the Republic is first deployed. The vehicle at that point in the flight has a thrust to weight ratio of less than one — the main engines actually have insufficient thrust to exceed the force of gravity, and the vertical speed given to it by the SRBs temporarily decreases.

It could also be that since it was Qui-Gon's dying request and Obi-Wan said he would train him regardless of what the council said, and losing Obi-Wan would be far worse than the risk of training the boy. The Shuttle then begins accelerating to orbit on the Space Shuttle Main Engines. Another reason suggested is that, with Anakin showing such strength in the Force by destroying the droid control ship, the Council feels that it would be a shame and a waste (perhaps also a danger) to not train someone so strong in the Force. The SRBs parachute back to the ocean to be reused. One possible explanation for this retraction is that Yoda trusts Kenobi more than his notoriously unorthodox teacher. 126 seconds after launch, explosive bolts release the SRBs and small separation rockets push them laterally away from the vehicle. Yoda somewhat disagrees with the decision. Around a point called "max-q", where the aerodynamic forces are at their maximum, the main engines are temporarily throttled back to avoid overspeeding and hence overstressing the Shuttle (particularly vulnerable parts such as the wings).

After Qui-Gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul, however, the Council rescinds its previous decision, although the reasons are unclear. Orbital velocity at the 380 km (236 miles) altitude of the International Space Station is 7.68 km per second, or 17,180 mph, roughly equivalent to Mach 23. His future, Yoda thinks, is clouded. This isn't visually obvious since the vehicle rises vertically and is out of sight for most of the horizontal acceleration. Yoda believes that the boy is clearly affected by his years as a slave, and that he still clings too tightly to the memory of his mother to be trained safely. To achieve orbit requires expending much more energy in a horizontal direction than in a vertical direction. Yoda, as the teacher of many of those on the Council, and its most venerable and respected member, plays a key role in that body's initial decision to deny the request. The vehicle climbs in a progressively flattening arc, accelerating as the weight of the SRBs and main tank decrease.

In 32 BBY (The Phantom Menace), Qui-Gon brings a young slave named Anakin Skywalker to the Jedi Council, claiming that the boy is the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force, and requests to train him once Obi-Wan has completed the trials necessary to become a Jedi Knight (Jedi can only have one apprentice at a time). Shortly after clearing the tower the Shuttle rotates so that the vehicle is below the external tank and SRBs. He was one of the Jedi Masters who ran the mobile academy aboard the starship Chu'unthor about 200 years before A New Hope, leaving the ship's data tapes in the care of one of the natives when the vessel crashed on Dathomir. At takeoff the vast majority (~71%) of the thrust is provided by the SRBs. Following his training, Yoda is said to have spent 100 years in self-imposed solitude, attempting to attain a higher level of understanding of the Force. After the Challenger disaster, there were extensive upgrades to abort modes. It is speculated from the Expanded Universe that he achieved the status of Jedi Knight at the age of 50 and the rank of Jedi Master at 100. Many of these concern SSME failures, since that is the most complex and highly stressed component.

(Yoda, Yaddle, and Vandar Tokare are sometimes erroneously referred to as Whills, despite Lucas' insistence that they are not.) In fact, very little is reported of Yoda's life before the events of The Phantom Menace. There are extensive emergency procedures (abort modes) to handle various failure scenarios during ascent. George Lucas has intentionally kept the name of Yoda's race a secret. The SRBs cannot be turned off once ignited, and afterwards the shuttle must take off, no matter what. 800 BBY to 19 BBY). Initially the main engines are ignited and computers verify their operation for several seconds; if successful, the SRBs are ignited and the vehicle is then committed to takeoff. Moreover, he has trained almost every Jedi in the Galaxy since he instructs all younglings in the Jedi Temple before they are assigned to a master (c. It is called the Shuttle-C and would trade re-usability for cargo capability with large potential savings from reusing technology developed for the Space Shuttle.

Over his lifetime, Yoda trains several notable Jedi, including Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi (partially, before Qui-Gon Jinn took over with Obi-Wan's training), Ki-Adi-Mundi and Luke Skywalker. A cargo-only, unmanned variant of the Shuttle has been variously proposed and rejected since the 1980s. Yoda, standing only 2' 2" (66cm) tall, is one of the senior members of the Jedi Council and arguably the wisest and most powerful Jedi of his time, even toward his demise, though the toll of his great age is noticeable. In addition the Air Force developed their own much lighter single-piece SRB design using a filament-wound system, but this too was cancelled. . The loss of the ASRB program forced the development of the Super LightWeight external Tank (SLWT), which provides some of the increased payload capability, while not providing any of the safety improvements. Yoda's character is believed by some to have been inspired by the title character in the 1975 Russian-Japanese film Dersu Uzala directed by Akira Kurosawa. These culminated in the considerably simpler, lower cost, probably safer and better performing Advanced Solid Rocket Booster which was to have entered production in the early to mid-1990s to support the Space Station, but was later cancelled to save money after the expenditure of $2.2 billion.

Like many names in Star Wars, the name "Yoda" has been supposed to be etymologically derived from some ancient language - in this case possibly from the Sanskrit yoddha ("warrior") and/or the Hebrew yodea ("one who knows"). Several other SRB improvements were planned in order to improve performance and safety, but never came to be. He appears in all of the franchise's installments except for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Notable is the adding of a third O-ring seal to the joints between the segments, which occurred after the Challenger accident. The Jedi Master known as Yoda (896 BBY–4 ABY), voiced by Frank Oz, is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. The SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) have undergone improvements as well. Stephens, James Maliszewski, ISBN 0-786-92781-X. As the Shuttle cannot fly unmanned, each of these improvements has been "tested" on operational flights.

Michael Mikaelian, Jeff Grubb, Owen K.C. It weighs 7,500 lb (3.4 t) less than the last run of lightweight tanks. Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, hardcover, 2002. This version of the tank is made of the 2195 Aluminum-Lithium alloy. Wiker, ISBN 0-786-92876-X. STS-91 saw the first flight of the "super light-weight external tank". Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. The resulting "light-weight external tank" has been used on the vast majority of Shuttle missions.

Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Revised Core Rulebook, hardcover, 2002. Additional weight was saved by removing some of the internal "stringers" in the hydrogen tank that proved unnecessary. James Luceno, ISBN 0-756-61128-8. The 600lbs saved by not painting the tank results in an almost 600lb increase in payload capability to orbit. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. For STS-1 and STS-2 the external tank was painted white to protect the insulation that covers much of the tank, but improvements and testing showed that it was not required. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-789-43481-4. The normal maximum throttle is 104%, with 106% and 109% available for abort emergencies.

Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1998. The 109% thrust level was finally reached in flight hardware with the Block II engines in 2001. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2. The upgrades have improved engine reliability, maintainability and performance. The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. SSME upgrades are denoted as "block numbers", such as block I, block II, and block IIA. Andy Mangels, ISBN 0-245-39535-2. However this would have required revising much previous documentation and software, so the 104% number was retained.

The Essential guide to Characters (Star Wars), 1st edition, 1995. They could have rescaled the output number, saying in essence 104% is now 100%. Bill Slavicsek, ISBN 0-345-38625-6. During the lengthy development program, Rocketdyne determined the engine was capable of safe reliable operation at 104% of the originally specified thrust. A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, 2nd edition, 1994. The 100% figure is the original specified power level. Paul Davids, Hollace Davids, ISBN 0-553-15890-2. This explains phrases such as "Main engines throttling up to 104%." This does not mean the engines are being run over a safe limit.

Mission from Mount Yoda, 1993. The Space Shuttle Main Engines have had several improvements to enhance reliability and power. Dave Wolverton, ISBN 0-553-56937-6. With the coming of the Space Station, the Orbiter's internal airlocks are being replaced with external docking systems to allow for a greater amount of cargo to be stored on the Shuttle's mid-deck during Station resupply missions. The Courtship of Princess Leia, 1995. In the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project tradition, programmable calculators are carried as well (originally the HP-41C). George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7. This is called a "glass cockpit".

The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. In addition to the computer upgrades, the original vector graphics monochrome cockpit displays were replaced with modern raster color displays, similar to contemporary airliners like the Airbus A320. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1. Internally the Shuttle remains largely similar to the original design, with the exception of the improved avionics computers. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Novelisation, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. The memory was changed from magnetic core to semiconductor with battery backup. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0. In 1990 the original computers were replaced with an upgraded model AP-101S, which has about 2.5 times the memory capacity (about 1 megabyte) and three times the processor speed (about 1.2 million instructions per second).

Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1st edition paperback, 1999. They have no hard disk drive, but load software from tape cartridges. The Jedi Apprentice series by Dave Wolverton and Jude Watson. The CPU could process about 400,000 instructions per second. The IBM AP-101 computers originally had about 424 kilobytes of magnetic core memory each. It is specifically designed for a real time embedded system environment.

The software for the shuttle computers are written in a high-level language called HAL/S, somewhat similar to PL/I. However in theory it can fail, so the BFS exists for that contingency. For example the number of code lines is tiny relative to a commercial operating system, changes are only made infrequently and with extensive testing, and many programming and test personnel work on the small amount of computer code. This should never happen, as embedded system avionic software is developed under totally different conditions than commercial software.

The BFS was created because although the four primary computers are hardware redundant, they all run the same software, so a generic software problem could crash all of them. The Backup Flight System (BFS) is separately developed software running on the fifth computer, used only if the entire four-computer primary system fails. In the rare case of two out of four computers simultaneously failing (a two-two split), one group is picked at random. If a second computer of the three remaining fails, the two functioning computers vote it out.

This isolates it from vehicle control. If one computer fails the three functioning computers "vote" it out of the system. The four general purpose computers operate essentially in lockstep, checking each other. After two failures it can land safely.

After a single failure the shuttle can continue the mission. The design goal of the shuttle DPS is fail operational/fail safe reliability. Collectively they are called the shuttle Data Processing System (DPS). A fifth backup computer runs separate software called the Backup Flight System (BFS).

Four computers run specialized software called the Primary Avionics Software System (PASS). The shuttle uses five identical redundant IBM 32-bit general purpose computers (GPCs), model AP-101, constituting a type of embedded system. Much research went into the shuttle computer system. A primary concern with digital fly-by-wire systems is reliability.

This means no mechanical or hydraulic linkages connect the pilot's control stick to the control surfaces or reaction control system thrusters. The shuttle was one of the earliest aircraft to use a computerized fly-by-wire digital flight control system. The SRB cases are made of steel about 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) thick. They are jettisoned two minutes after launch at a height of 36 nautical miles (67 km), then deploy parachutes and land in the ocean to be recovered.

The Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) contain the solid fuel that provides about 71% of the vehicle's liftoff thrust. The ET is made of aluminum-lithium alloy. It is discarded 8.5 minutes after launch at an altitude of 60 nautical miles (111 km) then burns up on reentry. The External Tank (ET) contains the 2 million liters (528,000 gallons) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant that feeds the SSMEs.

The orbiter structure is made primarily from aluminum alloy, although the engine thrust structure is made from titanium. Unlike previous space vehicles which used insulation that burned off during reentry and couldn't be reused, the orbiter thermal protection can be reused up to 100 times with only minor repairs. Lower temperature areas on the upper surfaces are protected by flexible thermal blankets. The underbelly and much of the fuselage sides is protected by silica tiles.

The hottest areas are on the wing leading edges and nose, which are protected by reinforced carbon/carbon. Various materials are used, depending on the amount of heat. The Thermal Protection System (TPS) covers the outside of the obiter, protecting it from the intense heat during reentry. The Reaction Control System (RCS) provides attitude control and translation along the pitch, roll, and yaw axes during the flight phases of orbit insertion, orbit, and reentry.

The Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) provides orbital maneuvers, including insertion, circularization, transfer, rendezvous, abort to orbit, and abort once around. They are used for propulsion during ascent. Three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) are mounted in the rear part of the obiter. Since the arm is a crucial part of the Thermal Protection Inspection procedures now required for Shuttle flights, it will probably be included on all future flights.

Until the loss of Columbia, the Canadarm had been used only on those missions where it was needed. Inside the payload bay is the Remote Manipulator System, also known as the Canadarm, a robot arm used to retrieve and deploy payloads. Thermal control is also maintained by adjusting the orientation of the Shuttle relative to Earth and Sun. The payload bay doors have heat radiators mounted on their inner surfaces, and so are kept open for thermal control while the Shuttle is in orbit.

The orbiter has a large 60 by 15 ft (18  m by 4.6 m) payload bay, filling most of the fuselage. Astronauts pass through the airlock hatch to put on their space suits. Galley, toilet, sleep locations, storage lockers, and the side hatch for entering/exiting the vehicle is also located there, as is the airlock hatch into the payload bay. The mid-deck has three more seats for the rest of the crew members.

The highest flight deck seats the commander and pilot, two mission specialists in the back. Its crew cabin consists of three levels: the flight deck, the mid-deck, and the utility area. The orbiter resembles an airplane with delta wings. The vehicle is launched vertically like a conventional rocket, and the orbiter glides to a horizontal landing like an airplane, after which it is refurbished for reuse.

The tank and boosters are jettisoned during ascent, so only the orbiter goes into orbit. The shuttle is a partially reusuable launch system composed of three main assemblies: the reusable Orbiter Vehicle (OV), the expendable External Tank (ET), and the two reusable Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). Columbia was lost, with all seven crew members, during reentry on February 1, 2003, and has not been replaced. Endeavour was built to replace it (using spare parts originally intended for the other Orbiters) and delivered in May 1991.

Challenger was destroyed when she disintegrated during launch on January 28, 1986, with the loss of all seven astronauts on board. The Shuttle was meant to visit Space Station Freedom, announced in 1984, an ambitious and much-delayed project later downsized and merged into the International Space Station program. Challenger was delivered to KSC in July 1982, Discovery was delivered in November 1983, and Atlantis was delivered in April 1985. The first fully functional Shuttle Orbiter, built in Palmdale, California, was the Columbia, which was delivered to Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979, and was first launched on April 12, 1981—the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight—with a crew of two.

Amid great fanfare, the Enterprise was rolled out on September 17, 1976, and later conducted a successful series of glide-approach and landing tests that were the first real validation of the design. The first complete Orbiter was originally named Constitution, but a massive write-in campaign from fans of the Star Trek television series convinced the White House to change the name to Enterprise. The contractor for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters was Morton Thiokol (now part of Alliant Techsystems), for the external tank, Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), and for the Space shuttle main engines, Rocketdyne. The prime contractor for the program was North American Aviation (later Rockwell International), the same company responsible for the Apollo Command/Service Module.

The final design was less costly and less technically ambitious than earlier fully reusable designs. The Shuttle program was formally launched on January 5, 1972, when President Nixon announced that NASA would proceed with the development of a reusable Space Shuttle system. Ultimately the current design was chosen, using a reusable winged orbiter, solid rocket boosters, and expendable external tank. During early shuttle development there was great debate about the optimal shuttle design that best balanced capability, development cost and operating cost.

They evaluated the shuttle studies to date, and recommended a national space strategy including building a space shuttle. Agnew. Nixon formed the Space Task Group, chaired by vice president Spiro T. In 1969 President Richard M.

The early studies were denoted "Phase A", and in June 1970, "Phase B", which were more detailed and specific. Even before the Apollo moon landing in 1969, in October 1968 NASA began early studies of space shuttle designs. .
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However, following the STS-114 return-to-flight mission in August 2005, the Shuttle program is currently grounded pending repairs and the solution of outstanding safety issues. According to the Vision for Space Exploration, use of the Space Shuttle will be focused on completing assembly of the ISS in 2010, after which it will be replaced by the yet-to-be-developed Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). The program started in the late 1960s and has dominated NASA's manned operations since the mid-1970s. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10-years operational life.

However this cabability is used to return large payloads to earth from the International Space Station, as the Russian Soyuz has limited capacity for return payloads. While the vehicle was designed with the capability to recover satellites and other payloads from orbit and return them to Earth, this capacity has not been used often. It carries large payloads to various orbits, provides crew rotation for the International Space Station (ISS), and performs servicing missions. It is also the first winged manned spacecraft to achieve orbit and land.

The Shuttle is the first orbital spacecraft designed for partial reusability. When its mission is complete, it re-enters the earth's atmosphere and makes an unpowered gliding horizontal landing, usually on a runway at Kennedy Space Center. The winged shuttle orbiter is launched vertically, carrying usually five to seven astronauts and up to about 22,700 kg (50,000 lbs) of payload into low earth orbit. NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's sole manned launch vehicle currently in service.

The trailer allows the transportation of the Orbiter from the OPF to either the SCA-747 "Mate-Demate" stand or the VAB without placing any additional stress on the undercarriage. Prior to the closing of the Vandenburg facility, Orbiters were transported from the OPF to the VAB on its undercarriage, only to be raised when the Orbiter was being lifted for attachment to the SRB/ET stack. Air Force's launch facility at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California (since then converted for Delta V rockets) that would transport the Orbiter from the landing facility to the launch pad, which allowed both "stacking" and launch without utilizing a separate VAB-style building and crawler-transporter roadway. A 36-wheeled transport trailer, originally built for the U.S.

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is a modified Boeing 747 that flies the Space Shuttle from alternative landing sites back to Cape Canaveral. The Crawler-Transporter moves the Space Shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39. While the shuttle might safely endure a lightning strike, a similar strike caused problems on Apollo 14, so for improved safety NASA chooses to not launch the shuttle if lightning is possible. However upon takeoff the shuttle sends out a long exhaust plume as it ascends, and this plume can trigger lightning, plus provide a current path to ground.

Like most jet airliners, the shuttle is constructed of conductive aluminum which would normally protect the internal systems. Airplanes are often struck by lightning with no adverse effects because the electricity of the strike is dissipated through the conductive structure and the aircraft is not electrically grounded. The shuttle is not launched under conditions where it could be struck by lightning. Since then, NASA has installed commercial plastic owl decoys and inflatable owl balloons which must be removed prior to launch.

One shuttle launch was delayed in 1995 when a pair of woodpeckers drilled almost 200 holes into the foam insulation of Discovery's external tank. When CNN reported on the breakup of the Columbia over Texas, they erroneously reported it was traveling at nearly 18 times the speed of light, instead of 18 times the speed of sound. (source : John Young's April 2003 After Dinner Speech). On the same subject, a little-publicised detail about the first Shuttle mission, STS-1, was that it had a protruding gapfiller that ducted hot gas into the right wheel well on re-entry, buckling the right main gear on landing as a result.

This image from the NASA archives shows many missing tiles on the STS-1 OMS pods : [[5]] The problem on Columbia was that the damage was sustained to the carbon-carbon leading edge panel of the wing, not the heat tiles. STS-1, STS-16 and STS-41 have all flown with missing thermal tiles from the orbital maneuvering system pods (visible to all the crew). In fact Shuttles had come back missing as many as 20 tiles without any problem. The subject of missing or damaged thermal tiles on the Shuttle fleet only became an issue following the loss of Columbia in 2003 as it broke up on re-entry.

At the point when it is perfectly vertical, the boosters ignite and the launch commences. This takes approximately 6 seconds. As the boosters flex back into their original shape, the launch stack springs slowly back upright. After main engine start, but while the solid rocket boosters are still clamped to the pad, the offset thrust from the Shuttle's three main engines causes the entire launch stack (boosters, tank and shuttle) to flex forwards about 2 meters at the cockpit level.

When watching a launch, look for the "nod" ("Twang" in "NASAese"). NASA was one of its main customers. The Compass sold poorly, because it cost at least $8000, but offered unmatched performance for its weight and size. Early Shuttle missions took along the GRiD Compass, arguably the first laptop computer.

This is still lower than the actual approximately $100 million per launch, but less difference than is commonly thought. Correcting for inflation to 2005 dollars, this equates roughly to $36 million incremental costs per launch. Early cost estimates of $118 per pound of payload were based on marginal or incremental launch costs, and based on 1972 dollars and assuming a 65,000 pound payload capacity. Some early hypothetical studies examined 55 launches per year, but the maximum possible launch rate was limited to 24 per year, based on manufacturing capacity of the external tank.

This does not reduce actual operating costs, but if dividing total program costs by number of launches, more launches per year produces a lower per-launch cost figure. Launch rate is significantly lower than initially expected. Before the current "Block II" engines, the turbopumps (a primary engine component) had to be removed, dissembled, and totally overhauled after each flight. The main engines were highly complex and maintenance intensive, necessitating removal and extensive inspection after each flight.

Maintenance of thermal protection tiles turned out to be very labor intensive, averaging about 1 person·week to replace a tile, with hundreds damaged with each launch. Columbia — lost during reentry, February 1, 2003. Challenger — lost 73 seconds after liftoff, January 28, 1986. Ulysses probe.

Galileo spacecraft. Magellan probe. An interplanetary orbit; these have included: