How long does it take for the shuttles to go from take off to docking of the space station? Vice versa?
Looking at the last few shuttle missions that docked with the ISS, it seems like they usually dock about 2 days after liftoff, and re-enter and land 2 to 3 days after undocking.
I don’t know if that time is required to match orbits, or if it just policy.
See sites like these for details:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-113/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-114
I was told once that it takes 7 minutes of thrust to reach low earth orbit where the ISS is. It takes a couple of days to slide into the correct orbit.
Does it really always take 7 days? If everything were absolutely optimum, couldn’t the Shuttle reach the ISS in less than one orbit? Say the ISS has a circular orbit at 200 miles above sea level, then could not the Shuttle achieve that same orbit in less than one revolution around the earth?