Word: orbiters
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...Without any film? No, what we were thinking of doing is sending them into orbit...
...moon. Lockheed, Boeing and Rockwell have all been working on the conceptual designs for a space plane. At the moment, says one industry consultant, "it's just a gleam in everyone's eye." But what a gleam: the plane would take off on a conventional runway and fly into orbit like a rocket. It could launch satellites, much as the space shuttle has done, or it could simply whisk U.S. passengers from coast to coast in twelve minutes. Such staggering speed would only be possible with a new kind of engine that could function both in the atmosphere...
...most immediate impetus for the development of the jet is military: the space plane could carry Star Wars nuclear defense weapons into orbit. It is also designed to compete with NASA's space shuttle, lifting payloads into orbit for less than $100 a pound. That would be a bargain compared with the shuttle's fee of $2,000 a pound...
...Wernher von Braun, 45, the exuberant Prussian who had fathered the German V-2 rockets. He had been among those who rushed into American hands when the Third Reich collapsed. Von Braun souped up his Redstone missile, put a tiny satellite dubbed Explorer on top and sent it into orbit. There was no turning back...
...when might the three remaining shuttles (Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis) go into orbit again? How many flights will--or indeed can--be scheduled, and what cargoes will take priority? Until the shuttle's fatal flaw can be identified and corrected, those questions will remain unanswered. But a few things seem clear. One is that even the temporary grounding of the shuttles, decreed by NASA immediately after the Challenger disaster, is a stunning setback to the entire U.S. space program. It will at best delay, and at worst force cancellation of, a wide variety of missions that were to have been...