Re: Lynx Spaceplane

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:40:55 GMT, fairwater@xxxxxxxxx (Derek Lyons)
wrote:


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...)

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.

Hubble is mostly an open tube. It weighed ~24,000 lbs. at launch,
isn't in the Top 40 of heaviest payloads launched by a Shuttle, and
wouldn't have even been among the Top 10 heaviest landings if NASA had
decided to bring it home.

Chandra/IUS weighed roughly twice Hubble's weight, so an abort landing
with Chandra would have been dicey, especially since it was on
Columbia, the heaviest Orbiter. All the IUS flights would have
required heavy inspections after an abort landing.

Brian
.

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