Risk of hitting the ET after OMS-2 burn?
Hello fellow orbinauts,
this is something I was already wondering about serveral years ago, whenever using the great Shuttle Fleet in Orbiter, now it happened again while simulating STS-134.
In the real world, is there any kind of "evasive" (RCS) burn performed by the shuttle to attain a safe distance between the ET and the orbiter?
I ask because, the OMS-2 burn usually happens near reaching apoapsis of the initial insertion orbit. Now, that point is about 90 degrees around the central body (Earth) after ET sep, thus placing the ET then a few hundred feet in front (close to the velocity vector) of the shuttle, given the inertial attitude of both Shuttle and ET remain the same after separation.
In Orbiter, after performing the OMS-2 burn, I always end up with the ET sailing past my shuttle, not rarely at pretty uncomfortable proximity!
So I was wondering, in the real world, do they also perform a translational RCS burn to get out of the orbital path of the ET to avoid this situation?
Thank you for any feedback!