Re: N-1 "Stabilization Screens" (Wuz: Re: shuttle LOX line vs Saturn V LOX lines)



Rusty wrote:
It almost looks like something that would dive and explore the
Titanic.
Is it a space ship or deep sea submersible?

End result of using higher pressure oxygen/nitrogen breathing mixture; their spacecraft are reverse bathyspheres, with the pressure on the _inside_ pushing outwards. So spheres and sections of spheres make good shapes to take the pressure while maximizing internal volume with minimal external surface area and structure weight. Originally, NASA thought the Soyuz descent module was a spherical Voskhod capsule minus its heatshield wrapped in a gumdrop-shaped aerodynamic housing:
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/p102.htm http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/p103.htm

Pat
.

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