In May 1949, the swampy and desert area of Cape Canaveral, Florida, became the base for the United States Air Force and a military missile test site. Five kilometers southeast of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, there are two launch sites on Merritt Island, linked by two bridges and dams.
The American reusable transport spacecraft "Space Shuttle" or simply "Shuttle" (English Space Shuttle - "space shuttle") - are used to transport astronauts and cargo to space orbit. The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, was launched in 1979, died on February 1, 2003 during space travel 28. The second "space shuttle" - "Challenger" was killed during its tenth launch on January 28, 1986, the third "Shuttle" - "Discovery", launched in November 1982, made 39 flights into space. The fourth "space shuttle" - "Atlantis" was launched in April 1985 and made 135 flights into space, the last flight in 2011. The fifth "space shuttle" - "Endeavor" was launched in May 1991 and made 25 flights.
The US Space Shuttle is flanked by external solid propellant boosters (TTUs) and two engines 5 feet in diameter. The ship's designers wanted to increase the diameter of the engines, but could not. Why?
The fact is that the engines of the spacecraft are delivered by rail, passing through a narrow tunnel. Rail spacing is standard 4 feet 8.5 inches, so Shuttle designers could only make engines 5 feet wide. The question arises: why is the distance between the rails on the American railroad 4 feet 8.5 inches?
It turns out that the track width in the US is the same as in the UK. America was a colony of Great Britain, and gained independence only on September 3, 1783. In England, railway carriages were made according to the type of tram cars, and the first trams in England were made in the image and likeness of a horse tram - a horse-drawn city railway - a form of public transport. The horse tram axle was just 4 feet 8.5 inches long! But why?
As it turned out, the length of the horse-drawn tram axle was designed so that the wheels of a horse-tram would fall into a rut on English roads, so that the wheels would wear out less, and the distance between the tracks in England was just 4 feet 8.5 inches! Why is this so?
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Map of the location of the Roman legions in Europe.
For the successful management of the vast Roman Empire, the rapid transfer of the troops of the Roman army from one rebellious province to another, it was necessary to take care of transport links with all provinces and build good roads. After the "foggy Albion" became a Roman province, the Romans built the first roads in Great Britain, which have survived to this day.
Pompeii, 79 AD - Roman roads, track and pedestrian crossing.
The width of Roman roads throughout the empire was standard and matched the size of a Roman war chariot drawn by two horses. The axle length of a standard Roman chariot was 4 feet 8.5 inches!
Arkaim. XXI-XVIII century BC e. Sintashta culture. Reconstruction of the chariot.
Well, now we got to the bottom of where this size came from! The question arises: why did the Romans build war chariots with axles of exactly 4 feet 8.5 inches? The Romans harnessed two horses to a war chariot, and the size of 4 feet 8.5 is the size of two horse croup! It was impossible to make the axle of the chariot longer, as this would disturb the balance and stability of the whole chariot during movement.
Roman chariot - VII century BC Reconstruction.
Therefore, this is the answer to the very first question. Today man has gone into space, but his highest technical achievement is still - spaceships are closely related to the size of two broad and muscular horse croup, just like TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
