From: bondage@frontiernet.net   
      
   Tony Rusi wrote:   
   >   
   > I have heard aerospace engineers say that SS1 would need 95% more   
   > energy to get to LEO. That would be roughly 20 times. Any vehicle that   
   > makes the use of a mothership a waste of time, as a staged rocket   
   > traverses the first 60k in less than a minute and a half. Flying   
   > around for an hour will not lead to a practical commercial space   
   > vehicle. Wings on such a vehicle are really more of a liability than   
   > any type of advantage, as we have witnessed with the shuttle. The only   
   > reason the space shuttle had wings is because some aging USAF type   
   > demanded it, and no one wanted to argue.   
      
      No, it was the then-reasonable requirement to launch south from   
   Vandenberg, and return to that same site after one orbit, and Earth has   
   turned quite a bit in the meantime. Delta wings were necessary to get   
   the needed cross-range. Otherwise, a straight-wing design might've been   
   used...   
      
      ...but there *would* have been wings of some sort, regardless.   
      
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