AAWSAP DIRD, Space Access: Where We’ve Been and Where We Could Go, March 2010

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UNCLASSIFIED/fFOlil OFFl&IAl l:ISlii 8,.lY
but we believed new launch complexes would be required to achieve the desired launch
rates and to accommodate sustained-use vehicles.
This all seems impossible given today's launch operations and preparation time, but in
1964 it was considered possible both in the United States and in the former Soviet
Union . It appears that two known companies proposed on the MOL support system, as
shown in Figure 38. The Model 176 preliminary launches were to be on a Martin Titan
IIIC. This was adequate for testing, but the minimum launches for one year of support
of MOL was 74 launches. That 74 Titan IIICs cou ld achieve a sustained manufacturing
rate or a sustained launch rate was not considered. So both Lockheed Aircraft and
McDonnell Douglas proposed a self-sustained operational system using recoverable
lateral propellant tanks. There were no engines on the lateral tanks as there were in
the aircraft since they were simply drop tanks.
Lockhe ed Star Clipper
circa 1964
Figure 38. A 1964 MDC Astronautics, St. Louis, Briefing Defined a MOL Support System With 10
Launchers That Could Fly 100 Missions a Year for 15 Years. Lockheed Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas both
had candidates.
Atmospheric Variations
The published approach to determining glide range is to assume the global atmosphere
definition is a series of concentric, constant-density shells. The 1962 standard
atmosphere follows the 1959 standard atmosphere and previous standards. NAVAIR-5­
lC-59, Harold Crutchner,28 details the Northern Hemisphere by month for every 10
degrees of longitude from 1931 to 1964. According to Crutchner, these atmosphere
descriptions were not intended to be engineering atmospheres but to be standards to
ensure that aircraft flying globally would have adequate altitude clearance. The 1962
atmosphere represents the average of all daily reports by the worldwide reporting
stations between +30 and +60 degrees latitude for the spring and fall equinox minus
one month to plus one month represented as a +45 degree average atmosphere.
UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOlil OFFI&IAl l:ISlii 8Ptllf
McDonnell Douglas
Model 176
circa 1964
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