NavList:

Derrick, you wrote:

"You are correct in
the statement about the intentional steering being done to gain the
additional rotational speed - but not from the Cape - if you have ever
noticed, the shuttle launches from the Cape are mainly (not always) low
altitude missions.  When they want the shuttle to go into a higher
orbit, with minimal additional fuel expenditure, they launch from
Vandenburg AFB in California.  Launching from California allows the
shuttle to launch in a westerly direction - there by taking advantage of
the earth's rotation. This results in a higher orbit for less fuel."

 

Derrick, your earlier post made good sense, but this latest addition is way off. First, they do launch east to get the rotation kick, and that *is* why they launch eastward from almost every launch site on Earth. Second, no shuttles were ever launched from Vandenberg (despite ill-considered plans to do so before 1986), though many unmanned rockets launch from there. The reason they use that launch site is because they can shoot due south (there's a lot of ocean south of southern California) which is ideal for polar orbits.

And:

"When launching from the Cape, part of the intentional turn east is to
avoid over flights of Cuba - by turning east, they are actually burning
more fuel than needed - but then they don't have to deal with the
political ramifications."

 

Certain launch windows are avoided because of overflight issues (safety is as much of an issue as politics) but it is not more expensive to launch eastbound --it's less expensive. You get a roughly 900mph headstart towards orbit by shooting east. Note that there is a considerable extra expense for the US in building the International Space Station