Re: Can't We call the early Atlas a SSTO?

In article <139fd4om04ail1d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Pat Flannery <flanner@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm not talking hypersonic aircraft here, I mean just strapping some
ramjets to the exterior of the vehicle that are feed by its fuel supply
and dropped of once their use is done, like the strap-ons on a Delta II...

Solid-fuel rocket strap-ons do this better, not least because they can
start on the ground, which is the time when rockets really *need* extra
thrust. (People looking at solid strap-ons for the Saturn V concluded
that by far their most important use was to lift more liquid fuel off the
ground.)

By angling the ascent profile to keep the vehicle gaining speed inside
the atmosphere, a significant amount of oxidizer can be saved, and
overall vehicle size decreased, as in the Gnom design...

Which is of virtually no practical importance, except in Gnom's intended
application -- a long-range missile with severe mass constraints imposed
by ground-operations factors.
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