Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
To rotate a spacecraft, a pair of thruster rockets on opposite sides of the vehicle are fired in opposite directions. To stop the rotation, a second pair is fired to produce an opposing force. The Space Shuttle’s Reaction Control System provides the thrust for attitude maneuvers (roll, pitch, and yaw), and for small velocity changes along the Shuttle’s longitudinal axis (front to back). See the Space Shuttle Discovery at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
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Flight Dynamics