Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!rutgers!ucsd!ucsdhub!esosun!seismo!uunet!eplrx7!lad
From: lad@eplrx7.UUCP (Lawrence A. Deleski)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Heavy Lift Capacity Boosters
Message-ID: <677@eplrx7.UUCP>
Date: 20 Sep 88 15:23:24 GMT
Lines: 36


I was watching an ABC special program the other night titled,  The Shuttle
and Beyond,  or something like that.  Anyway,  one thing the announcer said
puzzled me.

She stated that NASA at this time does not have any heavy lift capacity
boosters,  and that it would take ~1.2 Billion dollars to design and build
one.  

This struck me as rather odd since the Saturn V booster to this date has
the heaviest lift capability of any booster built by anyone.  

Now,  I know that the Saturn V has been scrapped,  but with such a capable
booster having already been designed and flown several times,  wouldn't it
be easier to resurrect the Saturn booster and fly them again rather than
designing a new one?

Those statements came in reference to our ability to put a space station in
orbit.  The USSR has a new booster,  she stated,  that has nearly the lift
capability of the Saturn V,  but that the US did not have such a vehicle
anymore.  Hence,  Russia could have an orbiting space station well before
we would.  

It would surely take forever to get a station into orbit using the payload
capacity of the currnet shuttle.  We need a heavy lift booster,  and Saturn
should get the nod.

Any opinions?



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        Lawrence A. Deleski         |       E.I. Dupont Co.
        uunet!eplrx7!lad            |       Engineering Physics Lab
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