Universe Today by Matt Williams February 5, 2022
For anyone old enough to remember the 1980s, the Space Shuttle was an iconic symbol of spaceflight. For thirty years (1981-2011), this program flew 135 missions, which consisted of orbital science experiments, deploying satellites, launching interplanetary probes, participating in the Shuttle-Mir program, deploying the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and constructing the International Space Station (ISS). There were also tragedies along the way, such as the Challenger (1986) and Columbia disasters (2003).
But here’s an interesting and little-known fact: the actual design of the Space Shuttle could have been entirely different. Rather than the reusable Space Transportation System (STS) and expendable external tank (E.T.) and solid rocket boosters (SRB) we all remember, there was also a concept for a fully-reusable two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane (DC-3). In a lovely video by spaceflight animator Haze Gray Art (YouTube handle Hazegrayart), viewers get a chance to see what a full take-off and landing would have looked like.
Before the Apollo Program had fulfilled its goal of sending astronauts to the Moon to conduct lunar science and “win the Space Race,” NASA was contemplating what its next steps would be. This included mission architectures that would complement the achievements of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and possible spacecraft that would replace the Saturn V super-heavy launch system.
By September 1969, the STG issued a report titled “The Post-Apollo Space Program: Directions for the Future.”
“[D]evelop new systems and technology for space operations with emphasis upon the critical factors of: (1) commonality, (2) reusability, and (3) economy, through a program directed initially toward development of a new space transportation capability and space station modules which utilize this new capability promote a sense of world community through a program which provides opportunity for broad international participation and cooperation.”
The report also created three classes of a future reusable shuttle:
• Class I: a reusable orbiter mounted on expendable boosters
• Class II: multiple expendable rocket engines and a single propellant tank (stage-and-a-half)
• Class III: both a reusable orbiter and a reusable booster
More:
https://www.universetoday.com/154381/the-space-shuttle-was-originally-hoped-to-be-a-fully-reusable-two-stage-rocket/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0_WL0z4--g
