SPACE IN MINIATURE

Image: Top/front view

Image: Head-on view

The Shuttle C, Cargo Element, was to be the first Shuttle Derived Vehicle [SDV], as an Expendable Payload Delivery Vehicle. It was conceptualized in the early to mid 1970's by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] as Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle [HLLV] to:

The Shuttle C was to be constructed from the 'Boattail' Section of an aging Orbiter, with the Body Flap, Vertical Stabilizer and Orbital Maneuvering System [OMS] Engines removed from the OMS Pods. The Reaction Control System in the OMS Pods were to remain intact, as were the Space Shuttle Main Engines [SSME], of which there were to be two or three depending upon the payload mass. The 'new' payload section, which would accommodate a 15 ft dia by 82 ft long payload, was attached to the boattail.

The launch configuration was to include the Standard External Tank [ET] and the Standard Solid Rocket Boosters [SRB]

The vehicle, with three SSMEs, would have had a projected launch payload of 170,000 lbs into LEO. A two SSME version (the top one removed), would have an anticipated payload of 103,000 lbs into LEO.

In 1988 NASA granted NAS8-37144, an 18 month study for the Shuttle C, and the United States Air Force [USAF] was participating because of the need for a HLLV. The estimated cost for a payload was $2000/lb. MPTA-098 Thrust Structure built by Essex Corporation under contract to Boeing at MSFC was a full scale mock up of the Shuttle C. The 1989, it was anticipated that there would be a launch schedule of 14 Orbiters and 10 SDV per year by 1995. In 1989, the USAF backed out (in favor of the new Titan IV HLLV), and the vehicle grew in complexity, needing more sophisticated avionics and software because the TRW OMV was canceled. The then Space Station Freedom was competing for funding, and the NASA Office of Technology Assessment ran the cost to launch using the Shuttle C to $4240/lb. This information, along with a revised downward launch schedule, as well as the need to build new parts if the original launch schedule was to be maintained, caused the United States Congress to cancel all funding in FY91 Budget. Space Station Freedom became the Space Station Alpha.

Built in 1/144 th scale, my Shuttle C is built as a three SSME version. I used the boattail from an Airfix kit, and the payload section was fashioned from a piece of Balsa Wood. I used the ET and SRB's straight out of the box, for the glamour pictures as reference to show the size and launch configuration of the Shuttle C.

• NASA SP-413 Space Settlements A Design Study 1977
• Space Shuttle A History of the National Space Transport System The First 100 Missions 2001 Dennis Jenkins
• Various NASA Websites
• Various Manned Mars Missions Advocate Websites.