Word: clippers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Delta Clipper-Experimental (or DC-X) is quite real, and its brief maiden voyage last week -- space engineers called it a "bunny hop" -- could signal the start of a new era in space travel. A grandchild of the original Star Wars program, the Delta Clipper is designed to accomplish precisely what the space shuttle promised but never delivered: cheap, dependable access to space...
...world's first fully reusable spacecraft, and its myriad computer systems make it easy to launch and repair. It can be fired off by a crew of three, far fewer than the army of 1,700 needed by the shuttle. Bottom line: the Delta Clipper should be able to carry 10-ton payloads to orbit -- manned or unmanned -- for $500 to $1,000 per lb., compared with 28 tons a load at $10,000 per lb. for the space shuttle...
...flew last week is a prototype that is only one-third the size of the planned vehicle. Even if the DC-X continues to perform well (the next flight is scheduled for this week), it could take five years and at least $2 billion before a full-scale Delta Clipper is ready for business. But aerospace executives are already dreaming about the day when getting into orbit costs no more than a transatlantic flight. Among their pet ideas: nuclear-waste disposal, space- based advertising and low-earth-orbit tourism. A weekend visit to a space station, anyone...
Mary Levinson, the candidate's mother and self-proclaimed "greatest ally," boasts of her son's platform, which features the government-sponsored placement of 300,000 men and women onto clipper ships, and a guarantee of jobs, housing and food...
...think the U.S. would like to know... about the clipper ships? Mrs. Levinson asked...