PHASE-B' SHUTTLE CONTRACTOR STUDIES[1971]
Notes:
The two years after Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's triumphant moonwalk were a very difficult time for NASA's manned space program. Administrator Tom Paine and Vice President Agnew were optimistic about the chances of getting their ambitious post-Apollo space exploration plan approved. But it wasn't to be. Paine's $4.5-billion FY 1971 budget request was pared down to just $3.333 billion by the White House. Congress later reduced this only slightly, to $3.269 billion, but only after three difficult roll-call votes. In fact, the House space subcommittee chairman, Joseph Karth, actually opposed NASA's $10-billion shuttle/space station plan because he felt it would force the agency to cancel many unmanned programs. Karth's May 1971 amendment to cancel all funding for NASA's shuttle & station studies was a 53-53 tie, the closest he could come without winning. The White House was equally unsupportive, and Paine decided to quit his job in September 1970 following numerous disagreements with President Nixon's budget officials. NASA then focused all its future efforts on the shuttle after the space station, space tug and nuclear Mars vehicles all fell by the wayside during 1970. Then, in May 1971, Nixon's Office of Management and Budget dropped another bombshell by announcing that NASA should not expect a larger annual budget than about $3.2 billion over the next five years. The fully reusable Phase-B shuttle was all but dead since it would have required a budget increase to $4.5-5 billion. NASA and its contractors would spend the next six months frantically searching for cheaper partially reusable alternatives. The most important Phase-B prime and double-prime results were as follows.
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McDonnell-Douglas received a $0.75-million contract extension in March 1971 to investigate the impact of Grumman's drop tank concept on its Phase B shuttle design. The extension, plus an earlier structures contract worth $2M, increased the total Phase B contract to $10.9 million.
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North American Rockwell's Phase-B shuttle contract was also extended to cover the Grumman drop-tank concept (left). In June 1971, NASA's new Administrator, James Fletcher, advocated the H-33 drop tank design with staggered development to reduce the peak funding requirement from $1.8B to $1.3B per year. The orbiter would be developed first and initially flown atop an existing expendable rocket stage. In late June, Fletcher extended the Phase-B contracts yet again, this time by four months and about $2.8 million per team. Each contractor was ordered to evaluate different expendable boosters plus a shuttle orbiter that carried its liquid hydrogen *and* liqui d oxygen propellants in an external tank. North American Rockwell investigated the Saturn S-IC (right) and a stripped-down expendable wingless version of its Phase-B booster.
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Martin Marietta proposed an uprated version of its Titan IIIM rocket. The Titan IIIL would have incorporated four solid rocket boosters and “stretched” propellant tanks to carry a full size shuttle orbiter plus 29.5t payload. Martin claimed their rocket only would cost $30 million per launch vs. $75 million for the Saturn S-IC.
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Although the LS-200 design was shelved, Lockheed still received about $350,000 a month to investigate drop-tank orbiter & solid rocket booster configurations that were quite similar to the shuttle concept actually selected six monts later.
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Boeing and Grumman were thought to be in an excellent position since their innovative proposals greatly influenced NASA's plans during 1971. The June'71 contract extension allowed the companies to investigate the Saturn S-IC interim booster concept (right) as well as various combinations of drop tanks and solid rocket boosters (left). The concepts in the middle would have utilized combinations of liquid rocket boosters and expendable propellant tanks.
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“Key Space Shuttle Decisions Near” -- AW&ST 1971/March 29/p.45
“Orbiter Selection Due by Mid-1972” -- AW&ST 1971/June 28/p.16
“Winged Saturn Studied for Shuttle” -- AW&ST 1971/September 20/p.16