Need a little help for presentation about space shuttle

[TheScareCake!]

Hello, or should i say Hullo! Here's the thing. My physics teacher suggested me to do a short presentation about a rocket launch, ascend and other stuff. I decided to create one about space shuttle as its the most known rocket in my opinion (and i really love it). But there are so many things to say, the ignition sequence, the piloting, the shuttle itself, i cant even decide what should i start from. I wont make a yet another boring power point slideshow full of text, i have ability to make an animation of it. Any suggestions? I don't have very much experience in presentations. Everyone who will really help, will get a reputation point from me.

[BagelRabbit]

I would use a Prezi for this, as you can move around from slide to slide. I would move from the VAB to the launch site, up to space, and back to the KSC runway. Just my two cents. I would also give a more general view of a Shuttle mission. This would be structured as such:

1) Everything before launch. The stacking in the VAB, the crawler roll-out, the launch tower. You don't have to go into too much detail, just be sure that you include this, as it is important.

2) The launch itself. You can include the major events (SRB and liquid-fuel tank separation) as well as things that could go wrong (Challenger disaster, Abort-to-Orbit of STS-51F [look it up if you haven't heard of it, a very tense moment in the Space Shuttle program].)

3) SPAAAAAAACE! Take a view of some of the best things to have happened up there. (Examples: Building the ISS, launching various space probes, and even returning stuff from orbit!) Briefly go over the Science that is to be had, and don't forget to include some fun stuff (floating around in zero-G, untethered spacewalks, etc.)

4) Comin' back home. Atmospheric reentry, coming down to landing. Emphasize that you're trying to go from tens of thousands of mph to zero in a very short period of time. One thing that I always say here is that the Shuttle is the "World's Fattest Glider," and that it's amazing that the astronauts can get the Shuttle back to the runway at all.

Overall, include anecdotes, use loads of pictures, and try to have fun through all stages of the presentation process.

Hope this helped!

-Upsilon

[Kulebron]

Read Richard Feinmann's report on reliability of Shuttle. I don't know if it's easy to explain, but will give you some perspective.

[HafCoJoe]

I suggest talking about rocket engines vs. jet engine efficiency and how Jets use the air around them and rockets carry the air with them. Give the people a very general look at how rockets work too.

And everything Upsilon mentioned too!