Transcontinental rocket airlines

.....are back again, via Modern Mechanix:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/...in-40-minutes/
The airliner design doesn't look too far out*, although one would almost
expect extensible nose canards on it to shorten the landing distance.
For trivia fans, the rocket in the upper left hand corner of the first
page is the Nike Ajax with the squat quadruple solid-fueled rocket
booster used in its early tests. Later this was replaced with a single
larger solid-fueled booster to let it be fired off of its launch rail.

*Like most designs of this nature from that era it doesn't look like it
has enough internal propellant storage volume to accomplish its intended
mission with a significant number of passengers aboard.


Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
....are back again, via Modern Mechanix:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/...in-40-minutes/
The airliner design doesn't look too far out*, although one would almost
expect extensible nose canards on it to shorten the landing distance.
For trivia fans, the rocket in the upper left hand corner of the first
page is the Nike Ajax with the squat quadruple solid-fueled rocket booster
used in its early tests. Later this was replaced with a single larger
solid-fueled booster to let it be fired off of its launch rail.

*Like most designs of this nature from that era it doesn't look like it
has enough internal propellant storage volume to accomplish its intended
mission with a significant number of passengers aboard.

True, it assumes a really long "glide" after re-entry.

The picture on the top of the last page is none other than G. Harry Stine.
:-)

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein

Jeff Findley wrote:
The picture on the top of the last page is none other than G. Harry Stine.
:-)


He wrote the article - I've run into quite a few he wrote from that time
period.
If anyone wants to go digging through all of Modern Mechanix's space
articles, they are he
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/space/
The "War" section also has lots of odd things in it:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/war/

Pat

G. Harry Stine article !

Does not look like the SpinDrift that flew about 10 years later :-)

gb


"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
....are back again, via Modern Mechanix:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/...in-40-minutes/
The airliner design doesn't look too far out*, although one would almost
expect extensible nose canards on it to shorten the landing distance.
For trivia fans, the rocket in the upper left hand corner of the first
page is the Nike Ajax with the squat quadruple solid-fueled rocket booster
used in its early tests. Later this was replaced with a single larger
solid-fueled booster to let it be fired off of its launch rail.

*Like most designs of this nature from that era it doesn't look like it
has enough internal propellant storage volume to accomplish its intended
mission with a significant number of passengers aboard.


Pat