"Blurrt" wrote in message
u...
Could the X-37 be converted for use as a near term CRV? (I'm asking
technically not finacially) I know it's small but it looks like it could
fit
three people sitting down. It only needs to be a lifepod after all.

It's actually quite interesting to compare the cost of the OSP to the cost
of the X-37. Other than size I can't see the reason for the OSP to be 20
times more expensive.

Blurrt



The X37 experement bay (think crew compartment) is 7 feet long by 4 feet in
diameter. Maybe one extremely cramped astronaut in shirtsleeves, but still
no docking module or life support.

Despite this fact a certain Jenny Lyons at KSC actually did refer to the X37
as a crew return vehicle once (ref:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chat...3-15-00cc.html ), but I think
she must have been getting X38 and X37 confused. Either way you look at it,
if one has to finish a project that has already been started, X38 can hold
more crew members because that is what it was designed (ultimately) to
demonstrate a capacity to do.