VentureStar

VentureStar was a <a href="/facts/Single-stage-to-orbit/4qPbu35V">single-stage-to-orbit</a> <a href="/facts/Reusable_launch_system/j0WC10op">reusable launch system</a> proposed by <a href="/facts/Lockheed_Martin/URp9BQpA">Lockheed Martin</a> and funded by the U.S. government. The goal was to replace the <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle/7BoyetEv">Space Shuttle</a> by developing a re-usable <a href="/facts/Spaceplane/oMJNJPy7">spaceplane</a> that could launch satellites into orbit at 1/10 of the cost. While the requirement was for an uncrewed launcher, it was expected to carry passengers as cargo. The VentureStar would have had a wingspan of 68 feet (20.7 m), a length of 127 feet (38.7 m), and would have weighed roughly 1,000 <a href="/facts/Tonnes/gMymLmWv">tonnes</a> (2.2 million lb).
VentureStar was intended to be a commercial <a href="/facts/Single-stage-to-orbit/4qPbu35V">single-stage-to-orbit</a> vehicle that would be launched vertically, but return to Earth as an airplane. Flights would have been leased to <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> as needed. After failures with the <a href="/facts/Lockheed_Martin_X-33/yFcAGx1A">X-33</a> subscale technology demonstrator test vehicle, funding was cancelled in 2001.
VentureStar was essentially a bigger version of the X-33 but was not produced. The X-33 had ongoing problems meeting performance requirements for the carbon fiber hydrogen fuel tank. There were a number of other technologies that were part of the program, including the linear <a href="/facts/Aerospike_engine/Dzqz1MFA">aerospike rocket engine</a>. One point of praise was the metallic thermal protection system (TPS) developed by <a href="/facts/BF_Goodrich/2dFnzeem">BF Goodrich</a>.

VentureStar open-in-new

VentureStar