# Space shuttle following a sine wave **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578 "2000-10-19T20:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stylus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/1 "2000-10-19T20:53:41Z")
Have you ever seen mission control. And in front of the whole room is this huge map of the earth. And on this map is an image of the space shuttle, in orbit, following what appears to be a sine wave (or cosine for the smartasses). Is this wave to compensate for a flat projection of the earth? If not could someone please explain why the space shuttle is following a sine wave. ---
**Author:** ![kbutcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@kbutcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbutcher)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/2 "2000-10-19T21:03:09Z")
Yes. The apparent wave is indeed due to the flat projection of the earth. I hadn’t seen this since they moved into the new mission control headquarters. They seemed to have switched to a 3D representation of the shuttle… but then I saw it again the other day, I think it was tracking the space station specifically. But I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/3 "2000-10-19T21:05:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stylus \* > **Is this wave to compensate for a flat projection of the earth** Yes. The shuttle’s orbit is in a flat plane which intersects the earth’s center, with the earth revolving underneath. The orbit itself is actually elliptical (a circle is a simple ellipse). The sine wave appearance is due to the orbit plane being at an angle to the equator. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/4 "2000-10-19T21:26:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElvisL1ves \* > (a circle is a simple ellipse) More precisely, a circle is an ellipse whose two foci occupy the same coordinates. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/5 "2000-10-19T21:32:37Z")
Yep. The wave is the result of projecting onto a flat map the position of the shuttle overhead based on the movement of the shuttle in its orbit and the rotating Earth underneath it. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/6 "2000-10-19T21:41:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stylus \* > \*\*Have you ever seen mission control. And in front of the whole room is this huge map of the earth. And on this map is an image of the space shuttle, in orbit, following what appears to be a sine wave (or cosine for the smartasses). Is this wave to compensate for a flat projection of the earth? If not could someone please explain why the space shuttle is following a sine wave. \*\* Stylus, if you know what a sine wave is I’m surprised you needed to ask this. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/7 "2000-10-19T21:55:40Z")
This has been asked and answered before. It seems we are getting to that point where all possible questions have been asked and answered. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/8 "2000-10-19T23:28:40Z")
Look here to see the Shuttle’s track (both projected and 3-D) along with many other satellites: [http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/Spacecraft.html](http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/Spacecraft.html) ---
**Author:** ![Stylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stylus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-shuttle-following-a-sine-wave/37578/9 "2000-10-19T23:34:15Z")
Sorry for the redundancy sailor, but I am being very lazy this afternoon. I was willing to take a little slamming for not checking the archives. I had a feeling that’s what was going on, but I’ve never actually heard someone say it to me, nor do I remember reading it anywhere…so I just wanted to be sure. Thanks all.