Spaceship 1

Peter Stickney wrote:

Well, that depends. Head-to-butt Gs aren't great, but are preferable
to "Eyeballs Out" or "Butt to Head".


Which, amazingly enough, was the that Mark Wade had the Voskhod crew
doing on landing...did he ever fix that mess with the airlock on the
wrong side?

But you're right - for
significant G loads (Like more than 4) over a significant stretch of
time (like more than a minute), you really want to be taking them as
"Eyeballs in" as possible. That means, among other things, that a
postulated Orbits SS1-type-thingie wouldn't be able to get away with a
simple airplane-like interior. WHich means, of course, more demands
vis-a-vis weight and bulk.


They showed the design on Discovery Channel; he's got a pilot and six
passengers packed into a enlarged SS-1 like sardines.

One of the last Sole Master Designers.Such is the way of teh world.
The thing that impresses me teh most about SS1's design
process/inspiration is the analysis at the beginning that, in this
particualr suborbital case, you didn't _have_ to be going as fast
coming down as you did going up. (And, with a low thrust, long burning
motor, you didn't need to be going all that fast going up, either.)
That assumption simplified everything else by a tremendous amount.


Discovery Channel will be running their original "Black Sky" program and
the new "Victory" program about SS-1 in the next few days. The footage
of the flights is downright spectacular; but the engine bell on that
thing vibrates all over the place in some of the in-flight films.

Pat