Mar 102010
From microfiche, explaining the blurriness. Note that while the design was broadly similar to what actually got built, it differed in having an airbreathing propulsion system (for self-ferrying and occasional use after re-entry for cross-range extension) and provisions for large solid rocket “abort motors” below the OMS pods. The airlock was also located in the nose.
9 Responses to “North American Rockwell Space Shuttle, May, 1972”
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The blurriness doesn’t seem to bad for me. Are these going to be for sale?
> Are these going to be for sale?
Nope. What you see is what there is… while these are scaled down somewhat from the base scans, the full-size scans really don’t add anything, due to the blurriness.
How realistic was the self-ferrying jet engine provision? Could that thing actually take off from the ground?
The nose mounted airlock could have made for some interesting EVA’s.
This is reminiscent of Buran. Does the main gear bay protrude above the wing’s top surface?
IIRC, two additional engines would be needed for self-ferry.
[…] and such, will aid image quality noticably. Given how much better these images are than the earlier ones done via the slide adapter on my flatbed scanner, it’s already a major […]
The right hand part of the third drawing shows it with a total of four jet engines (two fixed; two fold-out?), which should have given it enough thrust to take off under its own power, like the Buran testbed:
http://www.buran.ru/htm/anabst2.htm
> The right hand part of the third drawing shows it with a total of four jet engines
No, it doesn’t.