(Henry Spencer) wrote in message ...
In article ,
Scott Lowther wrote:
...This was a 1980's single stage to orbit lifting body, but with a
rather goofy engine arrangement... three SSME's in the tail, one in the
*nose*. It took off like a Harrier in a horizontal attitude, but
straight up.

When the spec is adamant about "horizontal takeoff", but the engineering
clearly says you should take off vertically, people do what they can...

This project did not specify the mode of takeoff. However,
the main participants all believed that a winged approach with
a thrust-to-weight less than 1 (once in the air) offered
superior operational advantages without performance penalties.

Best regards,
Len (Cormier)
PanAero, Inc. and Third Millennium Aerospace, Inc.
( http://www.tour2space.com )