Request North American/Rockwell C-1057

[Graham2001]

Possibly the strangest proposed space shuttle design, simply turn the payload bay sideways...

Running down the specs might be a problem though as the only sources I can find are:

Fantastic Plastic: North American Rockwell C-1057 Shuttle Concept (1972)

Secret Projects Forum: Thread announcing the release of the model above

 

[Izack]

That is one ugly bird! :blink:

 

[Urwumpe]

You call that a blunt body?

That is a blunt body!

 

[Aeadar]

That is one ugly bird! :blink:

Indeed!

If the shuttle 'flies like a brick', this thing must fly like a brick...sideways.:lol:

Even if it preforms 'better', aerodynamically, than the shuttles, I can't imagine something that looks like that ever getting funded.

 

[T.Neo]

Oh, good grief. STS is really so pretty, this thing... well, it's like the shuttle's ugly sister...

For one launching it would make a little less sense, you'd get more aerodynamic resistance etc.

 

[Wishbone]

Suppose it is good for permanently incapacitating opponents by making them laugh their minds off. BTW, wasn't stealth in the list of requirements in that RFP?

 

[Aeadar]

Actually, giving it another look, its design just may generate more lift than a shuttle...but still...:lol:...:lol::lol:...:rofl:.

 

[C3PO]

Landing sideways, huh? That's lateral thinking!!! :thumbup:

Yikes! What if the locks on the payload bay door failed during reentry?

btw "breadbox shuttle" is a very fitting name!

 

[Graham2001]

Landing sideways, huh? That's lateral thinking!!! :thumbup:

Actually I think it lands just like a normal shuttle, cockpit first...

 

[Urwumpe]

Actually I think it lands just like a normal shuttle, cockpit first...

It doesn't land. It waits for Earth to get closer to it.

 

[Carmen A]

Evidently someone watched me re-enter an XR2 over WIN last weekend.

I was doing a powered re-entry and since I didn't want any lift I was maintaining 80 degrees AoA.... while flying sideways. I then decelerated to subsonic by rotating the craft so it was backwards (AoA 180) in the stratosphere.

 

[C3PO]

Actually I think it lands just like a normal shuttle, cockpit first...

So it's just the fuselage that lands sideways? :lol:

 

[Carmen A]

However silly it looks, it is obviously an attempt at a lifting body with very compact dimensions.

I'll be very concerned if it would lose stability in flight and flip end over end though. Like a drum of a washing machine.

 

[Stoat]

Where is the cockpit on it anyway?

 

[Urwumpe]

Where is the cockpit on it anyway?

In front, where the windows are of course! :lol:

But the visibility of the payload bay should be extremely poor, compared to the really build Shuttle. And as all know, cameras alone are poor for controlling a robot arm.

 

[Graham2001]

In front, where the windows are of course! :lol:

But the visibility of the payload bay should be extremely poor, compared to the really build Shuttle. And as all know, cameras alone are poor for controlling a robot arm.

Not to mention the risk run with the payload bay door being hinged from the top, I suspect if they'd actually gone ahead with this they'd have hinged the door from the bottom, that way if the latches did fail aerodynamic forces would have held the hatch closed.

I've also managed to locate another picture of the C-1057 showing the landing gear, looks rather cute in this one

The original is located here

 

[n122vu]

You know, if you extend the wings along the existing lines so that they meet at the bow, it would look a lot like one of those flying triangles I've heard so much about lately...

 

[Urwumpe]

..., that way if the latches did fail aerodynamic forces would have held the hatch closed.

Wouldn't help much at supersonic speeds, the buffeting would cause likely the hatch to fail structurally, if not locked properly in place.

 

[Bendarr]

That thing is so ugly that it wraps right around the scale and goes straight into the "Glorious" end of things. I love it.