Is there a new design advanced enough to put into production?
If so, does NASA have the resources to run missions with two different working shuttle designs? Should the whole fleet be replaced?
IIRC, after the Challenger, it was claimed that the program couldn’t continue with only 3 shuttles, that there MUST be a replacement or they might as well shut down the program. Given a demonstrated failure rate if about 1 in 50 launches, does it make sense to build abother on the same old design?
All I know of is the X-33, but that’s been cancelled.
There were some new shuttles in the works, The one that was in the front running would take off and land vertically IIRC.
I think that it might be difficult to manage 2 STS’s (space transportation systems IIRC) but not impossible as we sometimes launch conventional rockets too. Whatever replaces the shuttles if much better then the shuttles will most likely spell the end of the old shuttles.
Well, there’s Buran sitting in a Russian hangar somewhere.
Actually, there’s not. Last I heard, it’s sitting in an amusement park in Austraila.
:eek:
I thought it was in Gorkiy Park?
Apparently, their only renting it to the Aussies, and Russia was talking about building a working replacement.
Wow, I wonder if they really are trying to get Buran off the ground (so to speak).