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? -- Lawrence A. Deleski | E.I. Dupont Co. uunet!eplrx7!lad | Engineering Physics Lab Cash-We-Serve 76127,104 | Wilmington, Delaware 19898 MABELL: (302) 695-9353 | Mail Stop: E357-302