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- Path: sparky!uunet!think.com!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!atlantis.psu.edu!psuvm!pdc103
- Organization: Penn State University
- Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:59:28 EST
- From: <PDC103@psuvm.psu.edu>
- Message-ID: <93027.165928PDC103@psuvm.psu.edu>
- Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
- Subject: To the moon? ... in NASA's dreams ...
- Lines: 19
-
- You folks kill me...:)
-
- After reading your posts on the shuttle moon question, I couldn't
- help but join in. The basic answer to the fundamental question here
- is NO!!!! The shuttle was designed for a maximum orbital height in
- the order of 600 miles. Granted, a circular orbit isn't the most
- efficient way of transferring to the moon, but any sensible aerospace
- engineer will tell you that it isn't going to happen regardless.
-
- Getting the CSM to the moon and back (OK, the lunar module, too) is
- a lot different from getting a DC-9 sized vehicle there and back. If
- you could, say in a wild hypothesis, fill the bay with Hydrogen and
- Oxygen (or those nasty OMS fuels), you probably wouldn't have enough
- to get there, let alone get back to Earth. Nope, thanks to our great
- former Vice President, we're in LEO, and in LEO we will stay.
-
- -- Phil
-
- P.S. Delta V of 9 kps? Is that from KSC??
-