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Looking at the design of the US space shuttle, I'm curious to understand how it's able to control pitch during landing? By just looking at the design, it appears that it would need some kind of canard to control the pitch, but I don't see one on it.

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Travis
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    The shuttle, like other delta-wing aircraft before it, have their ailerons located far aft of the CG. (There are many examples of delta wings). In that aft position they can fulfill the dual role of ailerons (deploying opposite each other to cause roll) and move up/down together to cause pitch changes. Thus the term "elevon" is used to denote their dual role. Most often this means (a) using spoilers to augment roll authority, and (b) high landing speeds because trailing edge flaps would cause a nose-down pitch input. – Max R Dec 29 '22 at 21:13
  • Your motto is really nice "Never memorize something that you can look up on stackoverflow.com": apparently you didn't apply it before asking this question :) – sophit Dec 29 '22 at 21:25
  • @sophit I did, and Google too, but didn't find the answer I was looking for. A site I came across described using thrusters to control pitch in space but not while landing. – Travis Dec 29 '22 at 21:40
  • It had elevons...why would it need a canard? – Organic Marble Dec 29 '22 at 21:43
  • Ah ok. Hopefully the other answer answers your question. – sophit Dec 29 '22 at 21:50
  • @MaxR, OK if I copy/paste your comment into an answer? ;) – Michael Hall Dec 30 '22 at 01:29
  • When you look at a shot of a shuttle landing, there is almost no nose-up elevon displacement to hold the nose up during the flare. I'm wondering if most of the pitch up force to maintain the landing attitude is coming from the drag of the split rudder, being well above center of mass. – John K Dec 30 '22 at 14:59
  • @MichaelHall Absolutely. It’s marked as duplicate, so I can’t. – Max R Dec 31 '22 at 02:55

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