Rockwell’s Space Shuttle design as of November, 1972. Obviously very similar to the final product, but a few notable differences, including the retro-rocket on the nose of the ET (meant to make sure the tank fell into the Indian Ocean), the sleeker OMS pods, fairings extending onto the cargo bay doors; the External Tank being about 2 feet narrow in diameter and this notably longer; the slightly repositioned boosters; and a myriad of slight differences in contours.
I *believe* that this is Wally Schirra testing out the height of spaceplane test pilot fashion.
A mid-1960’s magazine ad, selling Sikorsky’s experience at developing stowed-rotor technology. The design used was a concept for a CARA (Combat Aircrew Recovery Aircraft), intended to dash at high speed over the jungles of Viet Nam, hover like a helicopter and winch up a downed pilot, then dash back to base. To do this the aircraft used a rotor that was spun up not by a mechanical drive system, but by tapping off the exhaust of the turbojet engines and routing it through ducts to the rotor tips. Doubtless it would have worked… and doubtless the transition phase would have been interesting and exciting.
A NASA-Langley presentation from 1973 on Shuttle carrier aircraft concepts included this “low technology” design, similar to the Conroy “Virtus.”
Once again Patreon seems to be becoming unstable. So I’ve got an alternate: The APR Monthly Historical Documents Program
For some years I have been operating the “Aerospace Projects Review Patreon” which provides monthly rewards in the form of high resolution scans of vintage aerospace diagrams, art and documents. This has worked pretty well, but it seems that perhaps some people might prefer to sign on more directly. Fortunately, PayPal provides the option not only for one-time purchases but also monthly subscriptions. By subscribing using the drop-down menu below, you will receive the same benefits as APR Patrons, but without going through Patreon itself.
A page from a 1962 North American presentation on the X-15, showing a preliminary design 0f an underslung rocket-boosted scramjet test vehicle. It was expected to get to a blisteringly fast 17,000 feet per second (about Mach 15), but it doubtless would not have much of a burn time. The ABLX-259 rocket booster was a solid rocket used as the “Antares II” third stage of the Scout space launcher. Note that the X-15 had an extended nozzle.
The X-34 was the first aerospace project I worked on after graduation. Sadly, one week after I was hired to work on the X-34 the whole program was cancelled. “Welcome to aerospace, kid. Here’s your layoff… last one in, first one out.” Feh. Anyway, Orbital Sc iences proposed two vehicles:
1: The X-34A was a small-ish vehicle carried under the same Lockheed L-1011 jetliner that OSC used to launch the Pegasus. The X-34 needed greater volume than the Pegasus, but since there was limited clearance under the L-1011, the X-34A had a wide lifting body-like fuselage.
2: The X-34B was a larger, better optimized vehicle to be launched from atop a Shuttle-carrying 747.
Both the A and B models had payload bays that would contain an upper stage and an orbital payload. Neither was built (apart from a full scale mockup of the A); after the program was cancelled it came back as the X-34C. the C model *was* built, but it never flew.
A 1965 Ryan concept for a VTOL aircraft capable of high speed. Both the main wing and the vertical stabilizers were in fact stoppable rotors with three stubby blades. Some designs utilizing this system were capable of supersonic flight.
The design below dates from late 1964 or so. it could be used to fly 100 passengers or 20 tons of cargo. Length was to be 100 feet with a 120-foot rotor diameter and a 90,000 pound weight. it certainly looks a *lot* like the S-64 Skycrane.
United Tech was mostly interested in solid propellant boosters for the Dyna Soar program… specifically, boosters to strap to the side of the Titan II. Initially conical in shape, those early concept boosters would turn into the UA-1205 boosters fitted to the Titan IIIC booster. But UTC also studied liquid propellant boosters for the Dyna Soar, including the Saturn derived design shown below which featured a Saturn S-II stage for the first stage, an S-IV (*not* an S-IVb) for the second stage and an S-V stage (a modified Centaur) for the third. The design of the Dyan Soar is purely notional; United Tech seemingly did no design work on that and simply sketched in a spaceplane roughly along the lines of the design Boeing had.
