Re: Lynx Spaceplane



Derek Lyons wrote:
The original intention was to return it to Earth one or more times for equipment upgrades and general maintenance, but it ended up being to heavy for the Shuttle to safely land with it.

The problem with theory is it's launched on the Shuttle, it's by
defintion light enough for the Shuttle to land with it. (RTLS, TAL,
AOA, some ATO scenarios...)

Note the "safely" part... they could land with it aboard in a RTLS abort situation or the transatlantic abort option, but it was a iffy thing to try, and it was though a little too iffy to do on as part of its regular operations.
IIRC, both overall weight and the CG shift on the Shuttle from having it in the cargo bay were considered to be hazardous, particularly after the brake problems the Shuttle displayed on landing were taken into account, landing speed would be higher to prevent stalling with the extra weight aboard, and the roll-out after landing was significantly longer, which was particularly worrisome in a return to KSC with its fairly short runway.
The other problem is economic...you need one Shuttle flight to bring it down and another to send it back up again, so it makes a lot more sense to service it in orbit with only a single Shuttle launch needed.

Though a few (IIRC including Chandra but not Hubble) were in the 'only
try this once, then inspect the hell out of Shuttle and consider
retiring it' range.

The "abort to orbit" that happened on STS-51F would have been a real mess with Hubble aboard, as their two choices would be to return with it aboard, or leave it in a low orbit from which it would quickly decay, and hope they could figure out some way to boost it into its operational orbit before it reentered.

Pat
.

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