VentureStar
Sign in to savethumb|VentureStar releasing a spacecraft VentureStar was a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system proposed by Lockheed Martin and funded by the U.S. government. The goal was to replace the Space Shuttle by developing a re-usable spaceplane 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 , a length of , and would have weighed roughly 1,000 tonnes (2.2 million lb).
Key facts
- Rocket.image
- Venturestar1.jpg
- Rocket.caption
- Simulated view of VentureStar in low Earth orbit, having released its payload
- Rocket.name
- VentureStar
- Rocket.function
- Crewed Re-usable Spaceplane
- Rocket.manufacturer
- Lockheed Martin
- Rocket.country origin
- United States
- Rocket.stages
- 1
- Rocket.status
- Cancelled
- Rocket.sites
- Kennedy, LC-39A
- Rocket.launches
- 0
- Rocket/payload.location
- LEO
- Rocket/stage.type
- stage
- Rocket/stage.stageno
- First
- Rocket/stage.name
- VentureStar
- Rocket/stage.engines
- 7 Rocketdyne RS-2200 Linear Aerospikes
- Rocket/stage.fuel
- LOX/LH2
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
8 sectionsContents
- Advantages
- Cancellation
- Program hardware
- In fiction
- Diagram
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|VentureStar releasing a spacecraft VentureStar was a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system proposed by Lockheed Martin and funded by the U.S. government. The goal was to replace the Space Shuttle by developing a re-usable spaceplane 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 , a length of , and would have weighed roughly 1,000 tonnes (2.2 million lb).
VentureStar was intended to be a commercial single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that would be launched vertically, but return to Earth as an airplane. Flights would have been leased to NASA as needed. After failures with the X-33 subscale technology demonstrator test vehicle, funding was cancelled in 2001.