Hughes Pack
SPACE SHUTTLE PHYSICS--NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION, Britt Communications, 3311 Bob Wallace Ave., Suite 203, Huntsville, AL 35805, (205) 536-9967, $59.95
Combining physics and the space shuttle in one package opens the door for exciting possibilities, but this particular attempt still needs polishing. To run it, you need a Mac with a 12-inch monitor (8 bits, 256 colors), 4 MB of RAM, System 7.0, and a CD-ROM drive. QuickTime 1.6.1 is provided. Double-clicking on the space-shuttle icon starts an animated sequence of a space-shuttle cockpit and a QuickTime movie of the launch. Once in space, you are in the cockpit animation, with choices for Shuttle System, Rocket Stuff, and Space Warp.
Shuttle System covers the history of the U.S. shuttle program from 1972 through the present and makes some educat
ed guesses of where the program will be in the year 2000. Rocket Stuff explores Newton's laws and the various components of rockets. Space Warp presents the history of rockets and the space program in general in two sections: Early (12321940) and Modern (19402000).
The QuickTime movies displayed in a small window on the screen of a 14-inch AV monitor appear grainy and a bit jittery, with poor contrast at times, making it difficult to distinguish details. You get 4.8 MB of documentation on the CD.
The title implies that you will be able to learn about the physics of the space shuttle, but this assertion falls a bit short. You are introduced to Newton's laws in an elementary, incomplete--and in one instance incorrect--manner. The lesson on the Law of Inertia falls prey to mixing two frames of reference: an accelerating frame and a stationary frame. The resulting explanation of motion is misleading and incorrect.
Space Shuttle Physics provides a few hours of educational and entertaining mate
rial for folks who want more than a glimpse of the space shuttle on the evening news. But a more complete and correct exploration of the physics behind the shuttle would bring justice to the title.
Not Rocket Science
