I’ve heard planes hit the sound barrier before and have been around when the space shuttle re-enters the atmosphere and heard the thunderous BOOM when it occurs.
So why is there no BOOM when the Space Shuttle launches? I think it hits Mach1 soon after takeoff.
My WAG is that the booster engines are so loud that they cover up all other sound.
By the time it reaches that speed, it’s too high for the sonic boom to be heard on the ground. Per NASA:
According to this the space shuttle reaches mach 1 approximately 45 seconds after liftoff.
As to why you didn’t hear it, I am not sure.
Check out this cool annotated shuttle launch video that shows speed, altitude, and downrange distance all the way into orbit. It mentions passing through the sound barrier as well.
because it is all a hoax, done in a studio.
Agreed, but why couldn’t they hire some guy with a gong to make the whole thing more realistic.
As noted in the quote from NASA, the main reason is that the shuttle is traveling away from ground observers. From above, the boom would be easily heard.
Because everybody would expect a boom. Not having one, confounds expectations and makes it more realistic.
Can someone help me out with this video? Its downrange number seems to be increasing at a faster rate than its altitude rate. I thought downrange was the horizontal distance from the launch point to the point directly below the shuttle. But that would mean the shuttle is shooting out at a 45 degree angle which obviously ain’t happening.
EDIT: Figured it out the instant I clicked “Post.” It’s the linear distance from launch to shuttle. Right?
No. You had it right the first time.
No, but soon after launch it begins to curve away from perfectly vertical, and follows a curved path that becomes more horizontal with every passing second. Not a straight line though.
[Obscure factoid]:The linked flight was wacky Lisa Nowak’s one and only shuttle flight – she of the cross country Pampers express. [/Obscure factoid]