our children our future we want the best
for them we want health prosperity and
peace virtually every advance in human
endeavor has been the result of research
long painstaking labor and commitment to
a better way of life in a sense the
future is the direct result of the past
the consequence of 10 20 50 years of
questioning imagining dreaming building
dreaming and building is something
America knows about since the Wright
brothers flew we've realized the
benefits of commitment to air and space
transportation
now there's a new dream a next step and
perhaps for the first time we have the
major components already in place for
realizing the dream of placing bigger
and more useful payloads in Earth orbit
and beyond by using the existing Space
Shuttle booster rockets and external
tank we have the ability to design and
build an unmanned heavy launch vehicle
now the system is shuttle cc4 cargo
with shuttle see we can lift 100
thousand pound payloads to the space
station for example in all other aspects
shuttle C works much the same as other
current shuttle operations including
cost-saving booster recovery the
external tank is also common to both
shuttles because the shuttle C cargo
carrier uses the same orbiter main
engines an interesting concept and
proven technique is employed by shuttle
C for carrying greater weights to
greater heights once above the
atmosphere shuttle C jettisons its cargo
shroud making the vehicle itself lighter
after the main engine firing is
completed the external tank is also
jettisoned once clear of the vehicle the
nose shroud is ejected
in a sense the payload weight for
shuttle si is not calculated based on
bringing the entire vehicle to its
mission destination that's very much the
concept that help put men and equipment
on the surface of the Moon the economies
are realized in other ways as well
because of its significant cargo
capacity shuttle si can carry many
payloads to orbit preassembled this
means less time and effort in space to
put things together once in orbit an
orbital maneuvering vehicle part of the
payload in this simulation can position
the carrier and its payload to the space
station for example for docking with an
assist from jets in the tail of the
carrier and from commands from the space
station
but Space Station missions are just the
beginning shuttle C can also launch
planetary probes to Mars to Saturn to
comets it can deliver large-scale
support for lunar exploration and in
terms of pure practicality shuttle C
provides an unmanned test environment
for advanced shuttle systems in real
everyday terms we can all understand
just how does shuttle C stack up against
other known space systems shuttle C
provides a safe unmanned and economical
means of placing large payloads in orbit
the shuttle as we know it today can
carry payloads of up to 45,000 pounds to
a 160 nautical mile orbit with the
advanced solid rocket motor the ASRM
this will increase to 57 thousand pounds
current unmanned expendable launch
vehicles such as the Titan 3 can place
29,000 pounds in the same orbit the
upgraded Titan 4 currently under
development will carry 38,000 pounds
shuttles C can place over 114 thousand
pounds to the same orbit with an upper
stage it can place 20,000 pounds in a
geosynchronous orbit of 22,000 miles all
of this capability to support the needs
of already identified programs is
possible with a minimum of development a
minimum of time no new technology is
needed to build shuttle see the launch
facilities are already in place we're
talking about dreams and imagination for
certain but we're also talking about a
future reality by the time these
children complete elementary school
shuttle C could be in operation helping
mankind find answers to questions
solutions to earthbound riddles
America has the ingenuity we can use it
or we can rely on others the choice is
ours
shuttle si is not the answer to all of
our needs but it is the logical next
step in a carefully considered timely
progression to put America back on the
road to space leadership shuttle si can
make a few dreams reality