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Shuttle News from 1976



 
 
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Old August 1st 05, 09:19 PM
Gareth Slee
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Default Shuttle News from 1976

Found on another group...

-----------------------------------------

posts this article from Flight International of
September 1976. It is sad to see that so very few of the aspirations
have actually been achieved.

SPACE SHUTTLE DEBUT.

Flight International 25 September 1976.

The first Orbiter vehicle, main constituent of America's Space Shuttle,
was rolled out at Palmdale in California last week. The Shuttle is a
second- generation launch vehicle, and from 1980 will carry into orbit
most US and European payloads.

DAVID BAKER and MICHAEL WILSON here present a users' guide to the
Shuttle and its growing range of "add-on" equipment.

NASA has coined a new term, the Space Transportation System or STS, to
more accurately reflect the capabilities of the composite launch
vehicle based on the Space Shuttle as a kind of multi-purpose first
stage. It comprises the Shuttle itself, Europe's Spacelab manned
orbital laboratory- cum-observatory, and a series of upper stages to
boost satellites into higher orbits and start deep-space or
interplanetary probes on their journeys. There is also a scheme for an
unmanned, heavy-lift vehicle in which the payload, taking the place of
the winged Orbiter, is thrust into space by the Shuttle's main engines
and boosters. The STS is therefore a building-block launch system. and
will replace three of the four expendable rockets - Delta,
Atlas-Centaur and Titan-Centaur - which comprise the current fleet of
Nasa/DoD launch vehicles. The smallest of the quartet is the Scout, and
this is likely to co-exist indefinitely with the Shuttle.

When Nasa's search for a major project to succeed Apollo began to
crystallize earlier this decade into a recoverable launch vehicle, the
assumption was that it would replace all current US expendable rockets.
Indeed, this was how the venture was justified to the US Government.
Production rates of the two large rockets, Atlas-Centaur and
Titan-Centaur, have now slowed, and their launch costs are likely to be
considerably greater than those anticipated for the Shuttle. There will
thus be little or no incentive for the commercial or scientific
communities to use them when Shuttle operations get under way.

But the smaller Delta remains attractive, and the Shuttle may be
economic only if two or more payloads can be carried on one flight.
This may be difficult or impossible if the desired orbital inclinations
are widely different, a situation which is more likely to affect the
scientific-satellite users, with their multitude of orbits, than the
commercial customers requiring generally synchronous paths. The former
group can often wait for a Shuttle flight going their way, however,
while the latter, geared to maintaining a public or commercial service,
may be able to "double-up" with another Shuttle customer. So, provided
Nasa can organize its route network and schedules suitably, there is
likely to be little call even for the Delta after 1980. Certainly, the
continued use of expendable rockets would embarrass Nasa, though the
administration would rather phase them out through the greater appeal
of the Shuttle than by placing an embargo on their use. Meanwhile a new
expendable, Europe's Ariane, will become operational at the same time
as the STS to ensure an independent European launch capability. How far
this will compete with the STS will depend on pricing policies.

In order to keep costs down, the STS will be managed and operated like
an airline, with scheduled flights into space leaving once a week from
one or other of the two US launch sites. Nasa's chief job now is to
market the Shuttle to potential users throughout the world in order to
achieve the highest utilization, particularly in the early years. To
this end the agency several years ago prepared a traffic forecast or
mission model covering the first 12 years of operation, 1980-1991. This
is continuously revised (the latest one covers the period 1979-1992),
since the costs of STS operation will be very sensitive to its
utilization. Space budgets in the US have fallen in recent years, and
it seems likely that the Shuttle will be initially under-utilized
despite Nasa's endeavors.

Based on forecasts of eventual utilization, Nasa plans to acquire five
Orbiters (the delta-winged Orbiter, flown by a crew of four, can be
regarded as the key module of the STS). Nasa has ordered one Orbiter,
is negotiating for the second, and has signified its intention to buy a
third. There is some doubt about who pays for the fourth and fifth
Orbiters; the Shuttle is a Nasa programme, but the DoD will fly
one-quarter of the missions during the first 14 years.

Shuttle and its ancillaries

The basic shuttle comprises the first two stages of a launch vehicle to
which may be added one or more third stages to accommodate
synchronous-orbit and planetary payloads. The first stage is powered by
three liquid-propellant engines, supplemented by two Solid Rocket
Boosters (SRBs), which provide the Orbiter with 99 per cent of the
impulse required to impart low Earth orbit velocity. Fuel for the
Orbiter's liquid- propellant engines is carried in the external tank,
mounted under the vehicle's belly. Shortly after the tank has been
jettisoned, two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines at the rear of
the Orbiter ignite briefly to impart the, additional impulse needed for
a 50 n.m. x100 n.m. ellipse. This is transformed into a 100 n.m.
circular orbit by re-igniting the OMS propulsion unit at first apogee.

The Shuttle's load-carrying capacity reflects a preference for this
two-stage configuration, which will be used when the altitude required
is less than 650 n.m. for a 10,000lb payload. The maximum lifting
capacity of 65000lb limits altitude to a 220 n.m. circular orbit. If
payload/ height requirements fall outside these limits a third stage is
carried in the cargo bay. The Shuttle then becomes a platform from
which a supplementary expendable propulsion system known as the Interim
Upper Stage (IUS) and its payload can be separated and put into its own
trajectory. The IUS is a DoD- sponsored vehicle to deliver at least
4,500lb to synchronous orbit and several such stages can be assembled
to cater for high-energy planetary or heavy synchronous-orbit payloads
which exceed this limit.

In this three-stage configuration the Shuttle promises to accommodate
all anticipated Earth-orbit and interplanetary unmanned payloads for
the remainder of the century.

IUS costs

The IUS will cost the DoD about $1 million a unit, but launch costs to
the user will work out at about $5 million, including development
amortization and launch services. In preparation for introducing the
IUS in 1980, the USAF's Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO)
proposes a definition phase from September 1976 to February 1978
(mainly to settle the payload requirement), followed by full-scale
development From February 1978 to June 1980. The two-stage
solid-propellant IUS will employ low- cost, off-the-shelf equipment and
SAMSO anticipates placing a production order for about 270 units in
1980. The USAF intends to retain its Titan III launch vehicle as an
insurance against Shuttle non-availability or technical failure, and
requires IUS to be compatible with the Titan family so that it could
replace the existing Burner II upper stage if necessary.

The IUS will be uneconomic for small synchronous-orbit satellites, and
for payloads in the 2,000lb class (equivalent to the lifting capacity
of a Delta 3914) Nasa hopes to introduce a cheap, spin-stabilised,
small boost stage. Definition begins next February, with detailed
design getting under way by the end of 1977, leading to first flight in
December 1979 on one of the six Shuttle development missions. If
development of this supplementary propulsion system is approved, Nasa
will have two third-stage boost elements (albeit expendable ones)
tailored to synchronous-orbit payloads.

Planners consider it likely that by the mid-1980s some customers will
be calling for payloads to be retrieved from synchronous orbit for
refurbishment and subsequent re-use. With this requirement in mind,
Nasa proposes to develop a Space Tug for service In 1985-87. The
current basic design is a single-stage liquid oxygen/liquid
hydrogen-powered vehicle 30ft long, 15ft in diameter and with a
propellant capacity of 50000lb. Carried to a low Earth orbit by the
Shuttle, the Tug would boost its payload to synchronous orbit following
separation from the Orbiter cargo bay, just like the IUS and the small
boost stage. After circularizing its orbit and placing the payload on
station the rocket would return to a low Earth orbit for retrieval by
the Shuttle. The Tug will be lifted for up to 100 flights and will be
able to carry 8000lb to synchronous height, retrieve 3400lb or deliver
and retrieve 2,400lb. Its synchronous-orbit delivery capability is
twice that of the expendable IUS, and retrieval and delivery/ retrieval
(or so-called round-trip) missions would provide a new level of
flexibility for payload planners.

Emphasizing simplicity and reliability, the Tug will be powered by the
RL- 10 rocket motor designed for the Centaur upper stage. With a
minimum development time of six years a decision to proceed will have
to be taken within the next three years if it is to be introduced by
1986.

Although designed primarily for synchronous-orbit activities, the Tug's
generous performance opens up the possibility of larger versions
capable of supporting construction of the space station that will
supercede Spacelab. A two-stage development of the Tug would deliver
34,500lb to synchronous orbit or perform a round trip with 8,800lb.
Another version, the Aeromanoeuvring Tug designed to use Earth's
atmosphere for braking, would deliver 12,800lb to synchronous orbit or
take 6,700lb on a round-trip fight. It would "skip" through the outer
layers of the atmosphere to lower apogee and reduce the propellant
required to set up a low orbit after returning from synchronous
altitude. Yet another scheme, the two-stage Growth Tug, would require
an improved Shuttle capability but promises to deliver 48,700lb to
synchronous orbit or send 12,600lb on a round trip. A follow-on Tug,
called the Orbital Transport Vehicle (OTV), would be able to deliver
45,000lb to synchronous orbit and, following refueling from an orbital
propellant dump, could return with the same payload mass.

Spacelab is the manned laboratory which, carried aboard the Shuttle
Orbiter, will enable experimenters to carry out a wide variety of
scientific, technological and biological activities for civil and
military customers. Though considerably smaller than America's Skylab,
it will - like the Shuttle itself - be reusable and, with specially
designed modular experiments and equipment, be capable of rapid
turnaround on the ground to suit it for different missions.

It comprises a pressurized habitable laboratory, known as a module, in
which up to four payload specialists or experiment operators may work,
and a number of unpressurised pallets on which are mounted those
experiments or payloads calling for direct exposure to space. The
configuration can be tailored to the needs of the flight. Some missions
may call simply for a module, others for a combination of module and
pallets, and yet others will require any number of pallets up to five,
but no module. The basic module itself is a cylinder 4.5m in diameter
and 2.7m long, but two such units can be joined together, increasing
the length to about 5.93m to provide additional space for experiments.

Fokker-VFW of Germany was signed up as prime contractor on September
30, 1975, for the six-year design and development task. The initial
contract calls for the delivery to Nasa free of charge of a single
flight unit, two engineering models and three sets of ground-support
equipment and initial spares. Nasa and ESA are negotiating a second
Spacelab, but in this case the US agency would pay the cost. At one
time Germany was considering a purpose-built Spacelab to fly its own
equipment, but this scheme has been abandoned owing to the high cost of
the unit and the sharply increased levels of national expenditure
required for regular Shuttle launches and the experiments needed to
justify the acquisition. There is a possibility that Europe may buy a
Spacelab of its own, though similar arguments appear to make it
unlikely.

In February 1975 Austria, though not an ESA member, officially joined
the programme, relieving Germany of 0.8 per cent of its agreed
commitment. Programme costs at mid-1976 prices for the single flight
vehicle were estimated at 396 million accounting units, $515 million.

The engineering models are to be delivered in August 1978. followed by
the flight unit in August of the following year. Spacelab will go into
orbit for the first time during the fifth Shuttle development flight,
in 1980, and its first operation mission is scheduled for 1981. Germany
is the main supporter, with 53 per cent of the programme, and Hawker
Siddeley Dynamics, building the pallets, accounts for Britain's 6.5 per
cent. The design lifetime is ten years or 50 flights, and a European
will be one of the four payload experimenters on the initial flight.


In terms of economy, Spacelab should be one of the most efficient
payloads, since it makes use of a relatively large proportion of the
facilities offered by the Shuttle. Maximum allowable Spacelab weight is
32,000lb, limited by the Orbiter's design landing weight. Between
12,000lb and 20,000lb of this figure, depending on the Spacelab
configuration chosen, can be assigned to it.

Spacelab will be the platform for the Western world's manned space
activities up to about 1985, when the United States plans to bring
along a "Mk 2" Spacelab. This at present appears likely to be an
all-American design master-minded by the DoD, in the absence of a more
pronounced European commitment in the present Spacelab.

Predicting the market.

The Space Transportation System will be capable of accommodating a wide
range of missions. The Shuttle, spin-stabilised small boost stage and
IUS offer a payload/ height performance better than that of current
expendable launch vehicles.

For the first three years of Shuttle operations (1980-82) payload
planners will be cramped by the limited orbital capability from
Kennedy. Not until the Vandenberg facility becomes operational will
missions be possible with orbital inclinations greater than 55 degrees.
Nevertheless, the initial performance envelope will include low Earth
orbit, synchronous orbit and escape trajectories. With this restriction
in mind, Nasa has prepared a preliminary schedule of missions, or
traffic model, on the assumption that US Government, commercial and
foreign users will call for a maximum of 60 flights a year by 1985.

A single launch-pad at Kennedy will be available in 1979, followed by a
second in June 1982; the first Vandenberg pad will not be ready before
early 1983, with the second reaching completion by December 1986.
Mission opportunities will be tailored to this schedule and to the
Orbiter procurement plan.

On present planning the Department of Defense will fly 27 per cent of
all Shuttle flights proposed by the traffic model. Of the 578 fights
envisaged in the 1979-1992 period, 70 per cent will be launched from
Kennedy, 39 per cent will require seven-day Spacelab operations, and 6
per cent call for 30-day missions with the manned laboratory. About 34
per cent of the fights will involve the use of an IUS or Space Tug for
synchronous-orbit delivery or delivery/retrieval missions. Spacelab and
IUS/Tug missions account for 79 per cent of all launches tabulated in
the 14-year traffic model, leaving 21 per cent for solo Shuttle
missions or low-orbit delivery and retrieval work. The new traffic
prediction shows a build-up to 60 flights a year from 1985 to 1991,
with 40 launches a gear from Kennedy and 20 a year from Vandenberg, and
replaces the original 1973 traffic model, which envisaged a total of
725 missions.

Cost to the customer of a Shuttle launch is expected to be $20 million
at 1976 prices, with Interim Upper Stages charged at 1.8 times the
nominal $5 million rate for those users who want a launch at less than
three years' notice. It is unlikely, however, that foreign
participation will justify specific Shuttle flights, and most STS
missions will accommodate a mixture of US and foreign payloads. In this
case the cost to the user will be based on the proportional weight and
volume requirements of the payload.

Benefits to payload designers

Introduction of the Space Transportation System in 1980 will greatly
influence payload planners. To begin with the Shuttle will provide a
comparatively comfortable environment for the payload, permitting
designers many new freedoms. Payloads of up to 65,000lb can be carried
to orbit within a volume of 10,500 cu ft, and satellites weighing up to
32,000lb can be returned. It is impossible to predict with accuracy the
impact of the Shuttle's more favorable acceleration, temperature and
vibration environment on payload design, but several technology studies
have indicated cost-savings of up to 25 per cent. Nasal has already
discovered that costs arising from the use of an expendable rocket with
expensive excess lifting ability can be more than offset by a cheaper
payload-development phase. The time-consuming process of designing to
stringent weight, volume and reliability constraints imposed by
expendable rockets can add significantly to the cost of payload
development. The Shuttle also provides an "intact abort capability"
which permits the Orbiter to return with its payload to a safe landing
if the fight is terminated early after a mechanical or "software"
failure. All of these features will serve to reduce space
transportation costs beyond the current level.

Organizations providing commercial services such as weather forecasting
or communication are at present required to have back-up satellites in
orbit ready to take over in the event of the primary spacecraft
becoming unserviceable. The Shuttle will remove the need for orbital
spares by quickly flying modularized repair packages to ailing or dead
satellites in low orbit. A similar service for synchronous satellites
will of course have to await the introduction of the Space Tug.

On a typical repair mission, part of a scheduled Orbiter flight would
be dedicated to carrying a Tug and an equipment dispenser. The
combination would fly under remote control from low Earth orbit to a
synchronous satellite. Once on station the dispenser would dock with
the satellite, remove the faulty module and replace it with a new unit.
The Tug, still attached to the dispenser, would then return to the
Shuttle for capture and return to Earth.

There could foreseeably be some opposition from the satellite builders,
whose production rates might fall if the replacement market became
slack as a result of extensive satellite refurbishment. But this
objection might be offset by an increase in the market for satellites
as launch costs fall. Again, refurbishment of a satellite will become
progressively more uneconomic as it ages.

Development of a standardized modular satellite would be essential for
the effective use of orbital-repair techniques, as would be equipment
and experiment packages tailored to specific missions. Low-Earth-orbit
satellites could also be built to a common design, with a rotary
equipment or experiment dispenser carried within this Orbiter cargo
bay. The modularized approach to satellite engineering would, again,
reduce payload design costs by permitting a potential user to procure a
standard, proven space frame and simply install his own experiments,
sensors and other equipment.

Modular sensors on an Earth-resources satellite could. for instance,
permit adjustments to be made to the choice of spectral surveillance
bands from time to time, so increasing the useful life of the satellite
and circumventing the need for a costly replacement every few years.
This approach would permit the more immediate application of even minor
technological improvements. At present, advances in technology have to
accumulate over a number of years before they justify a costly new
project.

Flight operations

Shuttle launches and recoveries will be confined to the Kennedy Space
Centre in Florida and Vandenberg AFB in California. By US regulation,
no part of a launch vehicle's ground-track may intersect a major
land-mass during the ascent to Earth orbit, and this limitation will be
particularly important in the case of the Shuttle. The Eastern seaboard
of the United States is so shaped that Shuttle operations from Kennedy
will be limited to orbits not-exceeding an inclination of 55 degrees.
Missions with orbital inclinations greater than this will have to use
the USAF launch site at Vandenberg.

Three elements of the Shuttle will return to Earth through the
atmosphere during the Orbiter's ascent. The two boosters separate at an
altitude of about 25 n.m., with the Shuttle 24 n.m. down-range from the
launch site and moving at 4,600ft/sec. The resulting trajectory carries
them to a height of 54 n.m. before they fall back towards the sea 210
n.m. from the launch site. Their descent through the atmosphere is
slowed by a single drogue and three main parachutes, which lower the
147ft long units into the sea at 85 ft/sec. The external tank, the only
expendable part of the Shuttle vehicle. separates at an altitude. of 70
n.m. and breaks up in the atmosphere 2,200 n.m. down-range of the
launch site. Boosters from Kennedy fall into the Atlantic, those from
Vandenberg into the Pacific.

Each booster is designed for 20 flights and each recovery unit
(attachment points, transponders and locator beacon) is expected to
survive ten cycles. Shuttle launch costs are assessed on these
utilization rates and on the assumption that each Orbiter can fly at
least 100 missions, with the main engines being replaced after 55
launches. Nasa assumes that the thermal- insulation tiles will survive
100 flights, with the reinforced carbon-carbon segments (fitted to 3.5
per cent of the exterior surface area, mainly the wing leading edges)
replaced after 60 flights. External tank elements will be shipped from
the Martin Marietta plant to Kennedy or Vandenberg as required. The
tank costs about $2 million a unit at 1971 prices, or 22 per cent of
the total Shuttle launch cost, with the boosters contributing $3.3
million per flight, 31 per cent of each launch.

Shuttle services from the Kennedy Space Centre with Orbiter 102 (the
second vehicle) will use the converted Saturn V launch pad (LC-39A)
from the first flight in April 1979 until the second pad (LC-39B)
becomes available in June 1982. Nasa expects to introduce Orbiter 101,
refurbished from its drop-test configuration, in March 1981. It will be
followed by Orbiter 103 in March 1982. Operations from Vandenberg will
begin in March 1983 with delivery of Orbiter 104, followed a year later
by Orbiter 105. Tentative plans envisage the introduction of a second
Shuttle launch pad at Vandenberg by December 1986.

Orbiter landings at Vandenberg call for a 7,000ft extension to an
existing 8,000ft runway, but emergency landings can be made on the
Edwards AFB runway 150 miles east of the launch site. Edwards was ruled
out as the prime west-coast landing site because it would require a 747
to return the Orbiters to Vandenberg--with attendant delays in
turnaround time and expense--and an emergency landing following an
aborted launch would necessitate an approach over Los Angeles.
Emergency landing sites will be provided at Guam and Hawaii to
accommodate east or west-coast flights aborted at an early stage.

Nasa expects to provide opportunities for non-astronauts to fly in the
Orbiter. The two pilots responsible for flying the Orbiter and
controlling it in orbit will be supplemented by up to four payload
specialists and a mission specialist. The latter will oversee the
programme on each flight and ensure that each experiment operates for
its allotted period. Payload specialists will be recruited from the
scientific community and will require only a minimum of pre-flight
training since they will not be involved in piloting or managing
Shuttle systems. Flight crews will be recruited from the astronaut
corps.


Initial flight tests

An important part of the Shuttle flight-qualification programme
involves Orbiter 101, the initial vehicle, in a series of air-launched
approach and landing tests. It will be carried to 24,000ft atop a
modified Boeing 747 and released for a glide return to the Dryden
Flight Research Centre at Edwards AFB, California. Test objectives are
verification of Orbiter airworthiness and equipment operation;
verification of the glide approach and landing techniques;
qualification of the automatic landing system; and verification of
Orbiter performance and handling qualities over the weight and
centre-of-gravity envelopes. The tests will also qualify the Shuttle
carrier aircraft for ferrying Orbiters between the manufacturer's plant
and the launch sites.

Orbiter 101 will fly without main ascent engines, orbital maneuvering
engines or reaction-control equipment. Nor will it carry fuel-cell
cryogenic tanks, cargo-bay payload, radiators, star-trackers or S-band
and rendezvous radar. No water, waste-management equipment or food will
be carried, and the thermal-protection tiles will be simulated by
plastic plates to duplicate the mass characteristics of an operational
Orbiter. The leading edges of the wings will be clad with glass-fibre
and an instrumentation boom will be mounted on the nose. Fuel-cell
reactants will be high- pressure gaseous hydrogen and oxygen
(operational flights will use liquid hydrogen and oxygen), and
simulated rocket nozzles will ensure realistic airflow characteristics
across the boat-tail rear end. Standard aircraft-type ejection seats
will be fitted for these drop tests, with blow-out panels in the roof
of the flight deck providing an escape path if the vehicle has to be
abandoned in the air.

The first of a number of captive flights will take place in February
next year, with a gradual progression from simple take-off and landing
to long-duration handling trials of the 747/0rbiter combination. The
Orbiter will be unmanned for the first 15 flights, but by May 1977 the
first of six "captive-active" tests will provide an opportunity for
manning, powering up the equipment and testing the flying controls
while remaining anchored to the 747. During these tests the crew will
be able to check their procedures in preparation for the first of eight
manned drop-tests, which Nasa hopes to begin next year. A typical
flight profile begins with a climb to 24,000ft, followed by a turn on
to the desired heading relative to the runway selected for the landing.
When the checks are completed the combination resumes its climb, to
28,000ft. From this altitude, about 31 n.m. from the runway, the
carrier aircraft pitches 9 degrees nose-down and releases the Orbiter
at 260kt, 22,000ft. Carried on a single attachment point under the nose
and two latches under the rear fuselage, the Orbiter pitches up 6
degrees relative to the 747 and flies off the carrier aircraft. After
separation the two vehicles bank in opposite directions to avoid a
collision, and the Orbiter glides back to the Dryden Research Centre.

On early flights a tail cone will shroud the simulated main engines,
but on later drop-tests the cone will be jettisoned so that the flow
across the inert rocket engines of a Shuttle returning from space may
be simulated. The tail cone is carried at all times during mated flight
to prevent turbulence set up by the aerodynamically dirty boat-tail
from impinging on the 747's tail. The Orbiter will normally be released
about 55min after take-off and will take about 5min to reach the
ground.


Follow-on Shuttle

Believing that requirements may emerge for payloads in excess of
65,000lb to be launched on single flights, Nasa proposes a Heavy Lift
Launch Vehicle (HLLV) using standard Shuttle elements. In this
configuration the Orbiter would be replaced by a cylindrical payload
shroud mounted on top of a normal Orbiter boat-tail structure carrying
the three main-propulsion and the two orbit-insertion engines. The
flight profile would closely follow that of a conventional manned
Shuttle, with all propulsive elements being retained, but the automated
control mode would call for a substantially revised guidance system.
Based on present manned Shuttle performance, payloads of up to
230,000lb could be delivered into a due-east 200 n.m. orbit. Excluding
development, the HLLV would thus offer a launch cost of $65/lb of
payload at 1976 prices.

Future American space-transportation systems will build on
Shuttle-derived technology. This includes high-pressure/high-energy
rocket engines, re- usable thermal insulation,
large-diameter/high-thrust solid-propellant rockets, composite
materials for structures, and better performance simulation and
environmental-prediction techniques.

Decision on a go-ahead with any one of several proposed Shuttle
follow-on configurations obviously depends on the traffic achieved
during the early 1980s. If Nasa is correct in its assumptions about
initial traffic demands. the present Orbiter will need to be replaced
by a second-generation re- usable transporter by the early 1990s.

--
Gareth Slee
 




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