Re: Former Astronaut Says Shuttles Unfit for Service
- From: "Paul F. Dietz" <dietz@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 05:42:46 -0500
Pat Flannery wrote:
It could have been that a reusable first stage with an expendable
second stage could have stayed within budget, and actually have been
useful.
I don't know about that- the orbital stage would have had all the TPS
concerns and high maintenance requirements of our present Shuttle
Orbiter, and the winged first stage would have still needed a pretty
sophisticated TPS at its descent speeds, after separating from the orbiter.
Why would an expendable upper stage need TPS? Note that this
system wouldn't necessarily launch people to orbit every time;
if it did so a capsule of some kind would be used.
Paul
.
