NASA Takes Inventory For The Next Steps

By Frank Morring, Jr.
Marshall Space Flight Center

Launch vehicle engineers here believe a shuttle-derived vehicle built around the space shuttle main engine (SSME) is probably the fastest route to a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Some kind of heavy lifter is emerging as a centerpiece of the compromise space policy being worked out between Congress and the White House.

But that is only a rough call in a close race with vehicles ...

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