Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Heavylift Boosters
Message-ID: <1988Oct1.225302.11383@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <28624@think.UUCP> <1074@bucket.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1 Oct 88 22:53:02 GMT

In article <1074@bucket.UUCP> leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) writes:
><Of course, it is a littly looney putting men on top of solid-fueled 
><boosters.
>
>I wonder if Alan Shepard (Mercury-Redstone) and Gagarin (early Soviet
>boosters were solid fueled too, as I recall) would agree with you?

Probably.  The Redstone that launched Shepard was a liquid-fuel rocket.
Ditto the Atlas (orbital Mercury flights), Titan 2 (Gemini), and Saturn
(Apollo).  Ditto the "A" booster that launched Gagarin (and, slightly
souped up, still launches Soyuz).  The shuttle is the first man-rated
booster to use solids in a significant role, although small solids have
been used for things like retrorockets for a long time.
-- 
The meek can have the Earth;    |    Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the rest of us have other plans.|uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu