Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!peregrine!ccicpg!turnkey!stanton!donegan
From: donegan@stanton.TCC.COM (Steven P. Donegan)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: QUESTION: Shuttle round trips to the moon?
Summary: No Flames BUT!
Keywords: shuttle moon
Message-ID: <102@stanton.TCC.COM>
Date: 12 Jan 89 04:23:13 GMT
References: <14549@oberon.USC.EDU>
Organization: Stanton Public Domain Systems, Stanton, Ca.
Lines: 36

In article <14549@oberon.USC.EDU>, annala@neuro.usc.edu (A J Annala) writes:
> Can the shuttle fly to the moon, land, and take off again to return
> to the earth.  Keep in mind the moon has 1/6 the gravitational pull
> of the earth.  Let's assume for the moment that there is adequate
> solid flat landing surface prepared on the moon for the landing.

1) It MAY be possible for the shuttle to carry enough fuel/strap on's to
   get to the moon in theory (I say MAY), but...

2) There is no air on the moon (or reasonable equivalent) so a horizontal,
   'normal' shuttle landing CANNOT occur...

3) The shuttle is not equipped for a vertical/tail down landing...

4) Why the hell would you want to do this?

I can see using the 'enhanced' (ie strap on booster/fully fueled) shuttle to
attain lunar orbit and leave goodies in orbit for later lunar space station
construction and thus way station duty for lunar colony construction. But
why try a direct approach? Too costly in terms of fuel/payload delivered
(intact :-) ) to the moon surface for me...

Other 'simple' problems:

Is the shuttle's environmental support sufficient for a moon insertion and
return orbit? Could strap-on's and full fuel tanks support a payload worth
moving to moon orbit? Any NASA folk out there who have looked at this
somewhat bizarre scenario?

Big smiley's intended...

-- 
Steven P. Donegan                 These opinions are given on MY time, not
Area Telecommunications Engineer  Western Digital's
Western Digital Corp.
stanton!donegan || donegan@stanton.TCC.COM || donegan%stanton@tcc.com