How Space Shuttle Discovery got its Solar-powered Wings

If you want to get into space, you need combustible fuel. But if you want to stay operational in space, you need to harness the power of the sun itself. Buy your Discovery and OAST1 pin before the end of August here: https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow/products/scishow-pin-of-the-month-discovery-and-oast1-aug Hosted by: Caitlin Hofmeister SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ---------- Support SciShow Space by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SciShowSpace ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporter for helping us keep SciShow Space free for everyone forever: GrowingViolet & Jason A Saslow! ---------- Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/scishow ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/217146702.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19870010947/downloads/19870010947.pdf https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20010123234800/http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/STS-97/payload81.htm https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-97.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/solar_arrays-about.html https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/np-2015-05-022-jsc-iss-guide-2015-update-111015-508c.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-solar-arrays-to-power-nasa-s-international-space-station-research https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/changing-how-solar-power-rolls https://www.energy.gov/articles/space-based-solar-power https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1958-002B https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23615043_Measurement_of_orbital_dynamics_of_the_OAST-1_Solar_Array_using_recorded_video_images https://www.nasa.gov/feature/35-years-ago-sts-41d-first-flight-of-space-shuttle-discovery https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8548030 Images https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:International_Space_Station_after_undocking_of_STS-132.jpg https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/changing-how-solar-power-rolls https://www.nasa.gov/feature/35-years-ago-sts-41d-first-flight-of-space-shuttle-discovery https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1958-03-17_3rd_Vanguard_Successful.webm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm-t0DgBVUs&t=29s&ab_channel=NASAJetPropulsionLaboratory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pm4MbIwRDw&ab_channel=NASAJohnson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:STS-41-D_Crew_Enjoying_Space_-_GPN-2004-00024.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Judith_A._Resnik,_official_portrait_(cropped).jpg