MovieChat Forums > Moonraker (1979) Discussion > Space Shuttle Main Engines

Space Shuttle Main Engines

posted 14 years ago by cljohnston108
8 replies | jump to latest

In the Goofs section, it says...

Factual errors: In the opening scenes, the shuttle has on-board power and is able to fire its motors. In actuality, the shuttle is transported unpowered and the rocket motors are completely unfueled.

That's not the half of it.

The Shuttle is shown firing it's three main engines which, during a normal launch, are fueled by an external tank that's 30 feet longer than the shuttle itself! You could never achieve horizontal flight anyway.

The only engines that carry on-board fuel are the two smaller OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) engines in the bulging pods on top of the tail, but those only put out 6,000 lbs of thrust each, so they wouldn't get very far.

[–] OsamaBenFartin 14 years ago

Yeah....And the solid rocket boosters were jetisoned when the shuttle was way up in space? Don't they usualy detatch before the shuttle leaves the atmosphere, and float back down with parachutes?

[–] cljohnston108 14 years ago

They sure do!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Unicorn-9 14 years ago

"The Shuttle is shown firing it's three main engines which, during a normal launch, are fueled by an external tank that's 30 feet longer than the shuttle itself! You could never achieve horizontal flight anyway."

In theory you could fit enough fuel for 10-20 seconds into a tank in the payload bay. But that wouldn't help a lot, all it could do is get you up to about Mach 2 and you'd have to glide from there.

That whole sequence never made much sense to me except as a means for Bond to discover that Drax was up to something.

[–] wwestar 14 years ago

Please remember this was being filmed in 1978/1979. the public knew very little about how it worked, the first space shuttle launch was a year later and all the public had seen was the shuttle being launched off of the back of a 747 on television.

[–] Nosferatu6979 12 years ago

Another goof that's kinda funny in that whole sequence is when he drops the huge external fuel tank. They're already up in zero gravity, and when it releases from the shuttle it drops like a rock! Lol.

[–] loveagoodstory 11 years ago

Not really a whole goof - it sounds like it's fired away from the shuttle by the explosive bolts and you'd want to get away from it quickly.

This is pre-shuttle launches and so not an unreasonable guess by the SFX guys.

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[–] willywonkasrevenge 9 years ago

They weren't in zero gravity. In fact, they weren't even in orbit yet.

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