Jul 092008
The passenger-carrying versions of Dyna Soar could have attached directly to a space station via either a passageway that ran after through the transition section or througha hatch in the “roof” of the passenger compartment. The aft approach seems to have been preferred due to it’s simpler and more reliable nature (the actual attachement system to the station woudl be left in space, not stuck to the outside of the spaceplane during re-entry. But the passengers could also leave by the simple expedient of opening the roof much like the paylaod bay of the Shuttle. This would be used not so much for normal space station logistics missions, but for repair missions and the like.
2 Responses to “Dyna Soar EVA capability”
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This brings up the question of on-orbit cooling on the Dyna-Soar during a multi-day mission.
Considering the water-wall type insulation used on the crew compartment, I assume it’s done via water boil-off like on the X-23 PRIME.
The opening roof hatch (s) would be perfect as a blow-off feature if the passengers needed to eject after descent into the atmosphere, as well as disembarking or taking aboard small cargo in the mini-shuttle version.
The whole bay aft of the cockpit is probably a hold-over from the original bombing mission, although you could stick some impressive recon gear back there also.
One wonders if the passenger and cargo versions of Dyna-Soar are somewhat of a cover for a classified recon mission* or satellite inspector-destroyer.
Certainly that concept was interesting to the military in a manned form, as witness the X-24 based SAINT 2 or the later Navy Space Cruiser.
* Such as the research story for the MOL/KH-10 was.
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