Slide 90 of 99
Notes:
“Blunt Biconic” Crew Rescue Vehicle. In June 1993, the European Space Agency announced that a simpler manned space capsule would replace the Hermés manned spaceplane project. The “blunt biconic” design shown here was briefly investigated during the follow-on crew rescue/transfer vehicle studies in 1993-94. It would reenter the atmosphere nose-end first and have better maneuvrability (lift/drag ratio of 0.55 vs. 0.3 for the Apollo design) and thus better landing accuracy. But the Blunt Biconic design would also have been heavier and more expensive than the other configurations.
