There's also the slight matter of the heat patina around the nose and fin leading edges, which argues for a high supersonic or low hypersonic testing regime. The bias in the nose discoloration indicates a positive alpha during one or more tests of the model.
 
Though I'm a little skeptical on the X-37/SDV combo, this article is still interesting

In the article is a link to this AIAA paper, Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles with Existing Propulsion Systems, from Boeing
 

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Catch-22 said:


Description:
An archive of original material relating to the Virtus Transporter System for the Space Shuttle with a ring bound publication of the Space Division of Rockwell International. The Virtus System would seem to have been a proposed Transport System for the Space Shuttle which did not get beyond the drawing board. Comprises 1) An original coloured drawing of the Virtus System - with a cylinder being loaded onto the parent aircraft; watercolour +/- coloured crayon measuring 11 1/2" x 8 3/4 " (29 x 22cms) with a sketch of the Aircraft on paper pasted on board titled in pencil - "First Rough Sketch - showing unloading of External Tank. Off Virtus - March 1974" signed Douglas Ettridge. "External Tank 155ft long x 27ft dia." written underneath the painting 2) Another coloured sketch on paper of the Virtus airborn with the Space shuttle flying beneath - about A4 size. 3) Colour printed plate of the Virtus System with shuttle flying beneath titled "Original conception (now abandoned) for a Helium filled aircraft for Orbiter airlift". (Artist) Douglas Ettridge. 4) Offprint from "Aviation Weekly and Space Technology" Feb.4th 1974 : 4 pages including title page with photographs of a model of the Virtus System and of a sketch similar but more advanced than Item 1. Text explains the Virtus system proposed by John M.Conroy, builder of the Guppy Aircratft; gives spec. and plans. 5) Photocopy of (4) from the published article page nos 38-41. 6) Ring Bound document titled "Space Shuttle Transportation System November, 1973. Pubd. Space Division Rockwell International Public Relations Department. 27p printed on one side - look like photocopies but ring bound. Comprises a complete illustrated specification for the Space Shuttle. 7) Two sheets scrap paper with handwritten notes - "Edwards AFB" on one and an address written on another - "Charles I Stanton, NASA Headquarters, 600 Independence Avenue, Washington DC Code MHO" with scribbles on reverse. 8) Three loose sheets of faded photocopies of photographs of the Space Shuttle. 9) About 15 sheets of irregular tracing paper with sketches of the Virtus System and parts thereof; some folded and none signed - but look like Ettridge's work. 10) 1 sheet of headed notepaper for Santa Barbara Aviation, Inc, Santa Barbara Airport Goleta Califiornia with 8 lines of typewritten text on reverse referring to "Manufacturing Facility" describing another picture of a Hanger for Construction,Sub assembly and final assembley of the Virtus. 11) The original (torn) A4 buff envelope containing this material titled in longhand "Virtus Transporter 17th March 1974. (Ettridge was an established Aviation artist - see Artinfo etc.; John M.Conroy did design the Guppy system for transporting Saturn V Rocket Boosters - see wapedia) . An interesting and unique collection.
 

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hesham said:
Please see this;

I've managed to locate the article mentioned in the caption, which I've attached below:

 

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XP67_Moonbat said:
The top spaceplane in the last post is the Boeing Boomerang concept. Oh how I'd love to see the report on that! :eek:

...*That's* Boomerang? I'd always heard the carrier vehicle was more of a flying wing, hence the "Boomerang" moniker.
 
Space Shuttle-Derived SRB-X.

Original artwork, and then redrawn artwork by me.
 

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RyanCrierie said:
Space Shuttle-Derived SRB-X.

Original artwork, and then redrawn artwork by me.

There are only struts connecting the SRBs, not a solid member as you have depicted. The forward stuts connect to the Titan second stage which you have eliminated in your drawing.
 
Yeah, that solid connection would act like a wing, or at least a sail in any kind of wind conditions. I could see that vehicle getting blown off course. You'd really want to minimize the surface area.
 

  • Shuttle Enterprise, the first orbiter built, will move from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.
  • The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia will become the new home for shuttle Discovery, which retired after completing its 39th mission in March.
  • Shuttle Endeavour, which is preparing for its final flight at the end of the month will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
  • Shuttle Atlantis, which will fly the last planned shuttle mission in June, will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex in Florida.

NASA also announced that hundreds of shuttle artifacts have been allocated to museums and education institutions.
  • Various shuttle simulators for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum of McMinnville, Ore., and Texas A&M's Aerospace Engineering Department
  • Full fuselage trainer for the Museum of Flight in Seattle
  • Nose cap assembly and crew compartment trainer for the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio
  • Flight deck pilot and commander seats for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
  • Orbital maneuvering system engines for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center of Huntsville, Ala., National Air and Space Museum in Washington, and Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
Source: nasa.gov - NASA Announces New Homes for Space Shuttle Orbiters After Retirement
 
Why is New York chosen as the recipient of Enterprise instead of Houston? Wasn't that decision a slap in the face to the aerospace industry over there?
 
bigvlada said:
Why is New York chosen as the recipient of Enterprise instead of Houston? Wasn't that decision a slap in the face to the aerospace industry over there?

there several reason for that "Move"
one is New York is closer to in Washington, D.C. compare to Houston, Texas
Wat also much cheaper to transport

also in Houston has the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the Saturn V rocket on display
 

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agricola64 said:
hesham said:
Please see this;
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%201198.html

this is the configuration thats used in Lee Correy's book "Shuttle Down" .. i always thought it was author's fancy .

servus

markus

I've just come into possession of a copy of the 4 part version published in Analog and the shuttle is not in that configuration:

The ship was running light to get into polar orbit without the assist of Earth's eastward rotation, an additional Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) kit, or the external boost of a pair of Titan engines under the External Tank

(Lee Correy, Shuttle Down (Pt 1), Analog, December 1980)
 
Documentation of the Titan LBM (liquid boost module) is on a competing forum.
 
Ah yes, the forum where blood feuds to the death erupt over whether a rocket should be fueled by kerosene or hydrogen.

(I'm a subscriber, natch.)
 
GeorgeA said:
Ah yes, the forum where blood feuds to the death erupt over whether a rocket should be fueled by kerosene or hydrogen.

(I'm a subscriber, natch.)

And every other thread ultimately devolves into a discussion of DIRECT.

Actually, it's only certain threads. Avoid them and you avoid the repetitive discussions that go nowhere.
 
And every other thread ultimately devolves into a discussion of DIRECT.

They are also severely over-optimistic about the programmatic and developmental costs of DIRECT by several orders of magnitude. If it was that easy to design and build a Shuttle Derived LV, then Constellation would have been years ahead of schedule and about 25% under budget.
 
RyanCrierie said:
They are also severely over-optimistic about the programmatic and developmental costs of DIRECT by several orders of magnitude. If it was that easy to design and build a Shuttle Derived LV, then Constellation would have been years ahead of schedule and about 25% under budget.

Yeah, but over-optimism and self-delusion are pretty common to any discussion by space enthusiasts. SpaceX's fans also often go overboard. Anybody who actually _works_ in the field soon learns that press releases are not the same as actual hardware.
 
blackstar said:
RyanCrierie said:
They are also severely over-optimistic about the programmatic and developmental costs of DIRECT by several orders of magnitude. If it was that easy to design and build a Shuttle Derived LV, then Constellation would have been years ahead of schedule and about 25% under budget.

Yeah, but over-optimism and self-delusion are pretty common to any discussion by space enthusiasts.

...The same can be *very* easily applied to space critics, it should be pointed out in all fairness.
 
Dear Boys and Girls, here is an artist's impression with a caption in French showing a Lockheed "project" for a passenger-carrying space shuttle......

The picture comes from the 1st July 1969 issue of Aviation Magazine International......

Terry (Caravellarella)
 

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Robert McCall Sketches for STS-1 Patch

Robert Pearlman at CollectSpace has researched this and this is what he posted:

Link to CollectSpace Forum

Here is the timeline as referenced by NASA memos of the day (many thanks to Valerie Neal at the National Air and Space Museum for her help with researching these!):

May 1977 -- Naming process not yet started, according to a letter from the Assoc. Admin. for External Affairs

Jan. 1978 -- Office of Public Affairs internal memo suggested that Orbiter 102 be named Kitty Hawk

May 1978 -- A naming committee that was formed at NASA HQ reported a list of recommended "names having a significant relationship to the heritage of the United States or to the Shuttle's mission of exploration." Kitty Hawk was 11th in a prioritized list of 15 names headed by Constitution and Independence. (Columbia was not on that list.)

With credit to Valerie Neal, here is the list per a May 26, 1978 memo from the Associate Administrator for Space Transportation Systems (John Yardley) to the Director, Public Affairs on the subject:

Recommended List of Orbiter Names
(In descending order of preference)

Constitution
Independence
America
Constellation
Enterprise [reserved for possible 5th orbiter, to carry on OV-101's name]
Discoverer
Endeavour
Liberty
Freedom
Eagle
Kitty Hawk
Pathfinder
Adventurer
Prospector
Peace


25 January 1979: NASA announces the names of the four orbiter fleet in press release no. 79-10, "Shuttle Orbiters Named after Sea Vessels".
 
Thanks for that. It's interesting. I'm researching the history of the naming of the Enterprise for an article that I'm writing for Star Trek magazine. I did not know that they considered using the name for an active orbiter.
 
North American/General Dynamics Phase B shuttle?

Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/forthebirds/4340668695/in/set-72157623256022329/
 

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Enterprise crew at rollout ceremony.
 

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...And then there was Figure 12 of Section IV, the "lenticular payload". I can see someone at Boeing was guilty of watching too much Star Trek back then :eek:
 
General Dynamics Convair Division Multipurpose Reusable Cruise-Spacecraft artist's concept found on eBay.

URL:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GENERAL-DYNAMICS-ARTISTS-CONCEPT-FRAMED-PRINT-/220870517063?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336ce8a147
 

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Can any-one post pics (i love scale 3 view drawings) of early space shuttle concept art with the specs of the concept? ::)
 

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