Joema

A pleasure to read your posts... "Of course the ultimate goal is delivering a payload. On Apollo 15 the Saturn V delivered a payload of 140,930 kg (310,697 lbs) to low earth orbit. The heaviest shuttle payload was about 23,586 kg (52,000 lbs).

It would have taken six shuttle launches to deliver to LEO the same useful payload as a single Saturn V."

You are also correct to support LOX Rockets against air breathing space-plane lift to orbit, IMO. Cheers

OAP

Shuttle payload was 23 tons but the Shuttle itself was additional 80 tons.

NASA was constantly working on propulsion system mods to increase the payload capacity of the shuttle. Some were put into service and some were only ground tested.
- The super lightweight (Al-Li alloy) external tank saved about 7,000lbs and was needed to get some of the heavier ISS module payloads to the required orbit.
- There was a lightweight filament wound SRB case developed but never flown.
- There was a 5 segment SRB developed for the shuttle that would have increased max weight of ISS payloads by about 10 tons. The 5 segment SRB is being used on the new SLS vehicle.
- I recall reading that NASA was looking at super cooling the LOx to reduce volume and allow a smaller, lighter tank to be used.
- The shuttle used the payload assist module (PAM) to boost payloads into higher orbits.

A quick heads-up, this week is the 30th anniversary of the Challenger Shuttle disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_...enger_disaster
Worth reading by anyone interested in the safety of complex technology.

I wrote much of the original article, although I no longer maintain it.

National Geographic Channel is showing a documentary this week, titled "Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes". It uses cinema verite techniques (no narrator, no new interviews, no commentary, no recreations) to factually explain the event using little-seen archival footage. Barbara Morgan (Christa McAuliffe's backup) described it as "very compelling and respectful".

Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes - National Geographic Channel

About Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes Show - National Geographic Channel - UK

Link to trailer: http://tinyurl.com/zgkc7cx

For anyone interested in deep technical and procedural aspects, by far the most detailed account of the disaster and history of the SRB program is "Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster", by Allan J. McDonald.

McDonald discusses what happened and implications for engineering ethics in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_I-WUQvbjM

While a different incident, the transcript of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) from 4-23-03 is very educational, in particular statements by Robert F. Thompson, the shuttle program manager from inception to first flight. It covers key shuttle development decisions, development costs, planned flight rate, etc (do right-click and save as): https://www.nasa.gov/columbia/caib/PDFS/VOL6/H08.PDF If problems opening this, use top-level link and select "H.8 April 23,2003 Houston,Texas" : https://www.nasa.gov/columbia/caib/html/VOL6.html

As an aside (i.e. thread drift) today is sadly the 49th Anniversary of the Apollo Fire.

http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/

Thank you very much for this, joema, it's fascinating. As it happens I just got through re-reading the main CAIB final report - one of the best-written and organised reports I've ever come across - but I had none of the later appendices (Appendices A, B, and C are included in the final report). You've provided me with some more good reading.