Question

At engine burnout on its second mission, the space shuttle Columbia had reached point A at an altitude of 64 km and had a horizontal velocity v0. Knowing that its first orbit was elliptic and that the shuttle was transferred to a circular orbit as it passed through point B at an altitude of 240 km above Earth’s surface, determine (a) the speed v0 of the shuttle at engine burnout, (b) the increase in speed required at B to insert the shuttle on the circular orbit.

Answer 1