View Single Post
  #4  
Old 04-08-2011, 03:14 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

The S-1D embodied what I had wondered about ever since I first saw the original (five-engine) Atlas ICBM design proposal, in which the outer four engines were dropped and the center engine was the sustainer. It also reminded me of something I once asked my uncle Dan (who developed a gaseous hydrogen leak detector for the Saturn V's interstage areas while at Boeing): Could the S-IC by itself achieve SSTO (Single-Stage-To-Orbit) with a smaller payload? He answered that it very likely could, but that the payload would be small and the acceleration (going from the pad to low Earth orbit in just 2-1/2 minutes!) would be quite high.
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
Reply With Quote