We will see if this gets posted. My comment on the military in space has not gone up.
The SLS is really the continuation of the Shuttle program and for want of money, like the Shuttle could have been turned into a reusable version, the SLS can also be transformed. It CAN be made to work. For those arguing that it is not fully reusable and only this is acceptable, I submit that two different versions of the External tank can make it fully reusable. One lightweight version now being produced, and a heavier wet workshop version for use as crew compartments for Space Stations and Spaceships. These Space Station wet workshops could be launched from Vandenberg and provide Space Force with human-crewed early warning orbital stations our adversaries would be far less likely to attack as this would of course have far greater consequences that satellite brinkmanship.
Chapter 8 of “The Shuttle Decision”
Though it lacked wings, the pressure-fed booster became a candidate for reusability because its thick aluminum skin would easily serve as a heat sink. This same robust skin would allow the vehicle to come down by parachute and land in the ocean, surviving the impact and the subsequent perils of the sea. It would enter the water 200 miles offshore; a boat would then bring it back. No one was prepared to describe this as graceful; with this form of makeshift added to those of its design, the concept was unofficially called the Big Dumb Booster. Such dumbness seemed, however, to promise a new path to wisdom.
A pair of RS-25’s weigh about 14,000 pounds dry and a CH-53 helicopter can sling load 35,000 pounds so parachute-air-recovery of at least a pair of engine return modules with a pair of helicopters is quite possible. credit: The Shuttle Decision, NASA history series.
credit: Chris Bergin June 18, 2010
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And I replied to one of the most devious and sleazy fanboys…we will see if this goes up.
Certainly, an interesting and epic saga, but I have to side with those who frown on any praise of the Shuttle. It was one of the worst wrong turns in the history of any government agency. I would have to compare it to the V-22 Osprey, which is such a flawed design there is also almost zero to praise. The V-22 is essentially a bastard combination of an airplane and a helicopter. The Shuttle was essentially a bastard combination of an airplane and a spacecraft. The V-22 cannot fly as fast as a fixed wing airplane and cannot hover as efficiently as a rotary wing helicopter and is far more expensive to operate than both of them. The V-22 has no ability to auto-rotate and make an emergency vertical landing like a helicopter. The Shuttle sacrificed most of it’s payload on the Orbiter itself while having no escape system for the crew and was also extremely expensive to operate. Apologists cite all the wonderful capabilities of the Shuttle and the V-22. In reality the Shuttle should have used pressure-fed liquid boosters and an engine return module mounted on the bottom of the external tank and used a capsule and escape tower at the top of the stack. It would have been used for heavy lift missions with no crew. It would still be flying. Likewise, the Credible Sport concept was a far better path to pursue than the tilt-rotor used by the V-22.
Ice on the Moon 