The watch zeroes in on a very particular aspect of the space shuttle experience, the take off and landing sequence. To give you some perspective on how difficult it is to land the space shuttle, consider this: The shuttle is orbiting at roughly 17,200 mph, and it needs to slow down enough to land on a three-mile runway at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and to make matters more interesting, this all happens while the earth is rotating underneath it, necessitating a perfectly executed approach sequence. Timing is everything. From orbit, the shuttle slows down, decreasing the circumference of the orbit enough to make contact with the upper atmosphere at around 400,000 feet and uses the resistance to slow it down even further, making S-turns to bleed off speed and make a safe landing.
In-Depth Urwerk Puts The Space Shuttle On Your Wrist
