Boosters on the Boosters & Other Ideas For Improving Space Shuttles

The Space Shuttle began development in the 1970's and even before it flew for the first time engineers were developing new ideas to 'improve' the Space Shuttle hardware. Expanding its cargo envelope by putting payloads on the external tank, 'hammerhead' & 'lenticular' fairings, getting rid of the crew section, adding a massive passenger section and of course going full Xzibit and adding mini boosters to the regular boosters.

Most of these pictures come from a review paper published in 2004, after the Columbia disaster, but before Constellation was decided upon.
Shuttle Variations And Derivatives That Never Happened - An Historical Review
Carl F. Ehrlich, Jr. & James A. Martin

[rkr]

"So yeah, the former manager of the space shuttle program just popped onto my twitter post to make a comment..."

[AsbestosMuffins]

"We gotta put a fairing on top of the shuttle!"
don't we just build a rocket and leave the shuttle on the ground..."
"Quiet! we're building shuttles, SHUTTLES not rockets now!"

[RevFFL]

I worked on the Shuttle and early Space Station designs in the 80's and 90's. There were two other ideas we looked at. One was to take the External Tank (ET) to orbit and use it as a shell for the space station, where the tanks would be vented and habitation constructed (a bit like Skylab). Another idea added 2 levels of habitation to the bottom of the external tank. Both required taking the ET to orbit though, and the problem with that is the OMS engines could not fire through the CG with the tank attached. And we discovered quickly that any talk of modifying the Shuttle itself was out-of-bounds.

[kirishima]

The 76 seater version is for carrying troops. You know, for assaulting a super villain's space station.

[ИгорьКоптелов-рх]

When Kerbal is not "kerbal" enough for real world

[williamblack]

The 76 seat shuttle payload bay crew module is from the SPS (Solar Power Satellite) program. It was intended to carry construction crew to orbit. SPS system's were to be enormous, several miles in length. At peak construction the program would have required thousands of astronaut/engineer's living and working in orbit. Scott, you should do a video on the old SPS program -- it was really rather amazing in terms of the scale of effort. NASA technical reports server has all the PDF studies -- amazing stuff.

[stevierv]

He missed the opportunity to answer you "Hey Stott, it was a good idea but we couldn't fly safe"

[mihailazar]

the enterprise version just warmed my heart knowing some engineers ACTUALLY considered doing something THAT ridiculous

[radaroreilly]

2:05 I don’t remember any hills like that at the cape, so that must be Vandenberg AFB at SLC-6

[Eo_Tunun]

"Proposition for Enlargened Nose Internal Section" is what the modified booster projectshould have been called. ^^)

[dutchuniverse]

That lenticular payload fairing NEEDS to be tested in KSP

[ReneSchickbauer]

"How to turn your space shuttle into a stretch limo". I swear, some of those proposals look exactly how Randall Munroe would design them... and he worked for NASA for a time. Hmmmm....

[Torjus_]

When your teacher tells you "there are no stupid ideas".

[travisshea]

Shuttle derived vehicle concepts are some of my absolute favorite what-ifs of nasa history. My absolute favorite would have to be the Shuttle II proposals (more specifically the block II/evolved orbiter) out of JSC and LaRC. The CERV aspect of that design could have added so much more flexibility to the shuttle platform. Another favorite proposal was the use of a ET plus SRB stack with SSME attached under the ET but with the mid 90s Boeing mars mission aeroshells launched up attached to both sides of the stack.

[demogorgonzola]

7:03 Yes, totally looks like Enterprise from Star Trek.
...and the Humback version - perfect for the 'Voyage Home' mission :)

[davidgifford]

From living through the period, the configuration that got the most traction was the STS heavy lift vehicle where the shuttle was substituted for a high mass payload, keeping the shuttle main engines (4 in some options) housed in a re-entry capsule.

[miroslavmilan]

@2:30 - Is it just me or does the Shuttle seem completely superficial in this use case scenario? 🤔
If you remove it - congratulations, you’ve just invented a rocket again 🤣

[paulbelcher]

This channel is super informative and the way you put the info over is really brilliant, nice one mate

[vikkimcdonough]

4:02 - That, plus many many many _many_ abort scenarios even with the stock shuttle configuration, could have been solved by the simple expedient of putting separation motors on the ET in order to assure its positive separation from the orbiter during an abort.

[michaelcomisse]

I love love love when you do vids on things that were concepts but never made it to real life. Please do more please :)