
see also:


Image credit: Convair
Images: SDASM Archives, Popular Mechanics

Image credit: NASA Langley
Image source: Internet Archive

Image credit: Lockheed
Image source: SDASM Archives

Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station

Image credit: North American Rockwell
Image source: National Archives




Here are examples of tentative designs for a space shuttle, made public by members of the four industrial teams competing in the project:
Each of pictured space-shuttle versions is a composite craft consisting of two stages, a booster and an orbiter, and is launched vertically like a space rocket, as shown. It’s two stages separate in space, and both return to earth for re-use.
Image credit: Robert McCall
Text and Images: Popular Science

Image credit; McDonnell Douglas
Image source: Numbers Station