"Michael M. Butler" wrote:
> Spike Jones wrote:
> > the shuttle
> > designers used the main engines already developed for the
> > Saturn V first stage.
>
> What? Wow, that's the first time I ever heard that. I would have thought
> that the engineering for hydrogen fuel would have necessitated so much
> redesign that it'd count as a different engine. But you're the
> authority. :)
>From what I've heard, it was designed as a different engine. The
Saturn V's were likely one of the baslines that the space shuttle main
engines evolved from, though. (Among other differences: SSMEs tilt to
give on-orbit rotational thrust, while Saturn V first stage is straight
out the back only.)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:41 MDT