Originally Posted by
etudiant
Presumably the decision to leave the fuselages unconnected at the tail was driven by the need to accommodate the large launch vehicle fitted between them.
Unless the plan was to drop the launcher before starting the rocket engines, but that would have negated much of the reuse-ability of the concept.
That may be the reason for no P-38 style tail boom. The plan might have been to insure initial rocket ignition (or very close to it) before making the drop. Like the way the X-15 was deployed back in the day off the B-52 wing. You don't drop something that expensive without knowing you've got the fires lit.
I wonder what the procedure would have been for landing with a rocket and expensive satellite payload that failed to fire. That would be one hairy landing.