It also lacked a heat shield and therefore could not withstand re-entry into the atmosphere.
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As the spacecraft descended, it sent back signals when critical events occurred: heat shield separation, parachute deployment, retro-rocket firing.
Half a minute later, what is perhaps the most important event occurs - the separation of the heat shield.
BBC: Mars Curiosity rover success depends on 'crazy' landing
Unlike a jet plane, the shuttle has a fragile heat shield that can be easily damaged by rain or lightening.
This was accomplished by a heat shield, a parachute and some retro-rockets and, finally, air bags that inflated just before touchdown.
And high-tech ceramics are used to make everything from electronic components (capacitors and resistors) to the heat shield on the space shuttle.
They had one model they used to send out for the heat shield on Curiosity and it cost them five thousand bucks.
The underside of the capsule will get hot as it pushes up against the Martian air - the heat shield will experience temperatures above 2, 000C.
BBC: Mars Curiosity rover success depends on 'crazy' landing
But first, two NASA astronauts successfully completed a space walk today and removed two troubling pieces of ceramic fabric sticking out from the Discovery Shuttle's heat shield.
Three years later during STS-27, Atlantis' heat shield sustained severe damage from a piece of insulation that broke off of the right solid rocket booster during launch.
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Everything tested out perfectly, from the chute opening, heat shield blasting away, rockets firing, and then the cable deploying for the lander to be lowered to the surface.
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And in 1995, there was a small piece of fabric that was sticking out and it really raised the temperature of some parts of the heat shield on re-entry.
The 22, 000 heat protection tiles shield the shuttle from the 3, 000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures encountered during reentry into Earth's atmosphere for landing.
The new outerwear features the same ceramic powder used on stealth bombers to shield and disseminate heat and thus remain, well, stealth.
The plants and dirt will capture rainfall and shield the house from heat, rather than absorbing it like an asphalt shingle or a clay tile.
Friel also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing for a terrorist purpose an eye shield and visor, a mini rotary tool kit, drill bits, a heat gun, various tools and electrical material, berets, worksuits, gloves, plastic boxes, Bentley electronic timer instructions, batteries and duct tape on the same date.
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