The Insane Engineering of the Space Shuttle

Man, the interview segments with Bruce were so good. He seems like such a down-to-Earth guy, no pun intended.

My dad flew us out half way across the country to see the final space shuttle launch when I was like 13 and I’ll never forget it. It is absolutely mind blowing to see it fly off into space with your own eyes.

I enjoyed the discussion about the frangible nuts on the hold-down posts.

It took enormous effort by a lot of people to make this thing fly. Just the sheer number of possible failures is almost overwhelming. Too bad it was so expensive to keep running. We've needed it several times since its retirement. Hubble needs it right now.

Small correction - The solid rocket boosters the Space Shuttle were the largest ever flown at the time. However, the SLS had an upgraded version of Space Shuttle's solid booster which added sections, resulting in even greater thrust. So as of the first SLS launch, it took the cake.

At 3:26 you got open and close loop backwards. It enters CLOSED loop when it starts to monitor itself to make adjustments. An open loop system is when no feedback is taken into account by the controller. In an open loop its a one way street nothing comes back. In a close loop control signals are sent out and the data that is gathered comes back to the controller forming a closed loop.

I have seen thousands of YouTube videos but this is one of the best made in my opinion. The animations/renderings are amazing..

I got to watch a test fire of one of the solid boosters while standing next to an astronaut at the closest safe distance in Utah once, one of the coolest experiences of my life. It's absolutely mind blowing how violent and powerful it was, I could feel the rumble in my chest making each breath feel like it was vibrating out of me.

I've been hoping for years now that you would do an episode on the shuttle, amazing work as usual!

Every time I watch a video from your team, I am reminded that TV documentaries are no longer the gold standard in educational/inspirational content. That award goes to you for sure. Good job!

I was one of the engineers who developed and tested the space shuttle. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

“Reusable” is an overstatement. Its more in line with “refurbish-able”😂

I’m only 5 minutes into this video, and I am certain this is an absolute masterpiece of a production. Nobody has ever combined the casual and understandable kind of explanation that the astronauts use, with state of the art graphics and visuals that complete the whole idea in such a beautiful way. Thank you for making this content for all of us to enjoy, and even more importantly you are inspiring the new generations with it as well.

The Space Shuttle was SUCH a big deal when I was a kid. I was 11 years old when the first one was launched in 1981. The reusability factor was very heavily played up in the media, because up to then, only the tiny little crew module ever came back from any space missions. My family went on vacation to Florida in 1982 (or maybe it was ' 83?), and we took a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. I remember watching a demonstration where a technician heated up a piece of one of the Space Shuttle's thermal tiles, using a blowtorch, to the point where it was red hot -- then he picked it up with his bare hands!! That stuff was AMAZING!!! I'm sure future episodes of this series will cover the incredible engineering behind those tiles. Definitely looking forward to those!

Born in '83 and the space shuttle was a fixture for most of my life. It will always be my favorite spacecraft!

At 2:34 you made a series of small mistakes. The liquid hydrogen does not go from the tank to the channels, it goes from the low pressure turbine, to the high pressure one, to the nozzle. What happens is, The low pressure turbine is densing it up a little, in preparation for the powerful one, which then pushes the fluid through the channels to heat up and expand, then the expanded gasses drive the small turbine, and then the gasses drive the preburners. Surprising that you made this mistake despite the graph shown in the video has it written otherwise, but nonetheless amazing quality video, exceptional effort put in.

Just wanna say i love your videos, the production quality and explanations are top notch and you are an excellent narrator too. <3 Thanks! Thanks whole team!

I've personally met many shuttle astronauts, and just like this guy they are all incredibly passionate about the program and their experiences, but also humble. Love hearing these guys talk about it. Amazing video, looking forward to the rest of them.

I grew up reading about the space shuttle. Had forgotten how badly I loved it. This video brought back fond memories of my childhood. Made me hopeful again haha. Great video man.

The Space Shuttle was an engineering marvel but also a death trap just by its overall design concept. Its amazing that a single one of the daredevils that rode it made it back alive, let alone hundreds. Its a true testimonial to the skill and dedication of all the people that worked on it.