Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!ece-csc!ncsuvx!gatech!rutgers!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!gamma!pyuxp!nvuxj!nvuxr!deej From: deej@nvuxr.UUCP (David Lewis) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Heavy Lift Capacity Boosters Summary: saturn Message-ID: <776@nvuxr.UUCP> Date: 23 Sep 88 14:55:52 GMT References: <677@eplrx7.UUCP> Organization: Bell Communications Research Lines: 38 In article <677@eplrx7.UUCP>, lad@eplrx7.UUCP (Lawrence A. Deleski) writes: ] ] 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. It was called "Beyond The Shuttle". ] 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? ] I'm not certain about this, and anyone with hard facts is encouraged to correct me if I'm wrong. But... My understanding is that the plans and specs for the Saturn V have Gone The Way Of All Good Things. Some are still sitting in files somewhere (who was the prime contractor for the S-V?), but they are sadly incomplete. There are no parts, no production facilities, no dies, and incomplete plans to rebuild them. Building a Saturn V would require going through virtually the entire design process over again. How the mighty have fallen. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= David G Lewis "somewhere i have never travelled..." Bellcore 201-758-4099 Navesink Research and Engineering Center ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej