Re: Paper on early space programs

From: Pat Flannery (flanner_at_daktel.com)
Date: 02/04/05 

Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 18:47:18 -0600

Henry Spencer wrote:

>People did notice that possibility. It would let you pre-install a bunch
>of useful hardware that would have made the conversion rather easier.
>
>The Aft Cargo Carrier did have some problems -- the sonic environment was
>described as "extreme", and the thermal one wasn't fun either -- but I
>think what killed it was a combination of no customers and post-Challenger
>reluctance to mess with the basic shuttle hardware. You really only
>*needed* the ACC if you just had to launch something that wouldn't fit in
>the cargo bay, like a really big telescope mirror or heatshield, and
>nobody had such a payload. And after Challenger, there was a stronger
>appreciation of how thin the margins are during shuttle ascent, and nobody
>wanted to make changes to things that seemed to work.
>

That's a real shame, a dedicated Shuttle fight to put just the the
modified ET into a fairly high orbit followed be four or five others to
carry the equipment to put on board it could have yielded a nice station
in the pre-1990 time frame at a real knockdown cost.
And talk about room to get around in internally! Even if just the LOX
tank were converted into the living area and the LH2 tank were made into
a unpressurized "garage" facility it would still be mighty roomy inside.
NASA really shot itself in the foot when it considered the ET-based
station concepts to be a threat to the "Freedom" space station program.

Pat

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Surface -- Orbit traffic
    ... you get up to the outer regions of the atmosphere without using any on- ... programs range from 4 km/s to 8 km/s. ... A conversion air-ram has important advantages over a scramjet. ... carrying the shuttle, or dropping the shuttle but taking the cargo on ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: Double-deck subway tunnel?
    ... the Piccadilly Line used the DLD's planned route, and Gloucester Road ... station was designed for conversion to a junction in case the DLD was ...
    (uk.railway)