May 012014
I’m working on a CAD model of the “DC-1” SSTO follow-on to the DC-X, based on some pretty good diagrams I scored a while back from NASA. But I have a question for anyone who might know what I’m talking about: what was the deal with the cockpit being 45 degrees off-kilter? Re-entry would seem to have been a bit of a nightmare, as would what would pass for the glide afterwards.
Was the crew expected to just suck it up? Would the cockpit have been rotated internally by 45 degrees so that even though it was kinda off to the side, it would have been “right side up?” Would the diagrams simply be wrong, and the cockpit would have actually been at the “top” of the vehicle during entry?