Tag: aerospace plane

Artist Concept

source

Image credit: Republic Aviation
Image source: AFMC 

Republic Aerospaceplane

source

Image credit: Republic Aviation
Image source: AFMC 

Re-Entry

source

Into The Unknown
by Don Dwiggins
Golden Gate Books, 1971

Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station

Alden Metcalf

source

Dyna-Soar in space was never to be, for the program was canceled in December 1963. One of reasons was the development of a new type of aerospace plane, the lifting body.

Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965

Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station

Dyna-Soar On A Leash

source

This drawing from the magazine Air Force and Space Digest shows a proposed NASA “ONE-STAGE-TO-ORBIT” aerospace plane. The craft would be able to take off from a regular airport using turbojet engines, then switch to ramjet propulsion at supersonic speed. To reach orbital speed in space, the aerospace plane would use a third set of engines using rocket propulsion.

In the drawing (above) the combination turbo-ramjet engines are housed in pods, just inside the vertical tailfins (on either side). The huge scoop atop the rear half of the fuselage contains the rocket engines and a novel collection and compression unit for gathering oxygen to burn in the rockets. The other propellant would be liquid oxygen carried in the craft’s tanks.

After it’s orbital mission, the aerospace plane would be able to reenter the atmosphere and land as a conventional aircraft at an airfield. The craft would be about 90 feet long and weigh some 100,000 pounds.

CREDIT LINE (UPI PHOTO) 7-21-62 (ML)
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL ROTO SERVICE

Image credit: USAF
Image source: Numbers Station