North South East or West

In 1969 the direction (North, South, East, or West) of NASA seemed much
different that it does today.

"By the year 2000 we will undoubtedly have a sizable operation on the
Moon, we will have achieved a manned Mars landing, and it's entirely
possible we will have flown with men to the outer planets." - Wernher
von Braun, 1969

I believe, however, that the United States has moved responsibly into
Outer Space. It seems to me that today we have far more in the way of
practical and money producing satellites than would have been predicted
in 1969. Also, it is beginning to appear that American Free Enterprise
is gearing up for the conquest of Outer space, afterall.

Our knowledge of Outer Space, today, is immense. Our capabilities is
very substantial. I believe, therefore, that the self imposed limits
on what we have accomplished are the limits of practicality and
economics.

I do believe, however, that we are now capable of HTOL waverider
vehicles. I also believe that vechicles of this type may be the true
super heavy lifters of the future. Initially, the vertical tubular
rockets will be intermixed in use with the waveriders because so many
types and numbers of them exist today. Also, we have the industrial
capability to make them quickly and fairly cheaply for smaller
payloads.

Ultimately, however, I foresee huge waverider HTOL vehicles roaring
into the sky with enormous payloads actually setting up Moon Base as
well as true SSTP to the planets within the next 20 years. Current
efforts to build the CEV and 'heavy lifter' will eventually be seen as
an intermediate step helping to insure reliability and continuity of
what is now mankind's thrust into Outer Space.


tomcat