H
holmec
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>No the shuttle design had wings from the start. The Air Force wanted a larger payload and a cross range capability that would allow for a return to Vandenberg AFB after a single polar orbit in abort mode. Both of these requirements resulted in larger wings. <<br /><br />The shuttle didn't have wings from the start. It was going to be a lifting body. That's why all the flight tests of lifting bodies. The Air Force wanted wings. <br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-011-DFRC.html<br /><br /> />The information the lifting body program generated contributed to the data base that led to development of the space shuttle program.<<br /><br />Ok you may say that was before the Shuttle Program. True, but this is the prelimary tests and thinking of the Shuttle Program before it started, ie the Shuttle Program is the brain child of the lifting body, so to speak. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>