One orbiter with two booster options: a flyback booster and an interim Titan III L4 booster
Nov 102011
Search Results : shuttle
Nov 052011
One of the more unusual Shuttle designs I’ve come across is this Lockheed design from 1970. Included as part of a trade study against the “STAR Clipper,” this design featured an orbiter that was configured very much like a subsonic aircraft. Straight wings, a very conventional tail and a rather un-hypersonic fuselage were married to a podded bank of 11 rocket engines and two very large external propellant tanks. As with the STAR Clipper, “configuration 1-150” used droppable propellant tanks for 1.5 stage-to-orbit performance. Payload was 22,408 pounds.
Nov 042011
With the booster attached to the aft end of the external tank, it would be theoretically easy to switch boosters. Start with a simple large solid rocket motor, go to a manned flyback booster when it becomes available.
Nov 032011
Shuttle and external tank boosted by a recoverable low-cost pressure fed booster, using propane for fuel.
Nov 022011
The Shuttle and external tank, boosted by a manned glideback version of the Saturn V S-IC first stage.
Nov 012011
Oct 312011
Got a bunch of these:
Oct 252011
Now available: two Rockwell International diagrams dated 1977 showing markings for the Space Shuttle Orbiter, including markings for the hatch on the left side, national insignia, rescue markings, ejection labels, etc.
Set includes V070-000008 sheet 1 of 2 ( 13296X3660 pixels, B&W) and sheet 2 of 2 (13234X3600 pixels, B&W). Also includes grayscale halfsize and quartersize versions of each for easier viewing and printing.
Space drawing 27 can be downloaded for $4.50.
——
————
Sep 092011
Even though I’m desperately far behind on getting out APR issue V3N2, I’m nevertheless also thinking about future articles. One I’m interested in is some for of “Titan Derivatives” article. The problem is in determining how to cut it off. The UA-1205 motors designed for the Titan IIIC were, after all, proposed for all kinds of other vehicles, from ROMBUS to Saturn Ib to Saturn V to Shuttle to even an atmospheric bomber.
Below is a March 1972 McDonnell Douglas concept for a Space Shuttle with UA-1207 motors as boosters, rather than the larger RSRM’s that actually flew. Along with the different booster configuration, also note that the orbiter is equipped with two podded turbojet engines.
Aug 242011
I have a big fat pile of early Space Shuttle wind tunnel test reports, and it’s occurred to me that they could serve as the basis of an attractive book (or couple of books). I have put together a small, short, hastily-assembled prototype/mockup, downloadable below in PDF form, to give a rough idea of what I mean. Would something like this be of interest to y’all? It would be interesting not only from a historical standpoint, but also or model makers.
If interested, let me know… if I get enough “yes, I’d buy if the price wasn’t insane” comments, then I will go ahead. It’ll be something of a back-burner project, unless the response is overwhelming.
shuttle wind tunnel models proto.pdf
NOTE: the PDF was saved with maximum compression to save filesize, and the illustration s received minimal massaging to improve image quality. This is simply a test to gauge potential customer interest.
