Picking up where I left off, if I were to envision my ideal of a space transportation system that would take me to the Moon, I would think of these components; A carrier wing, launched by magnetic catatpult, carrying a 1,000,000 kilogram orbiter, which seperates at 15,000 meters, and climbs to orbit. The carrier wing burns kereosene and atmospheric oxygen to power turbofan engines, the orbiter burns kerosene and liquid oxygen in turbopump rocket engines.<br /><br />The orbiter climbs to a very low orbit, only about 200 kilometers, where it meets a space tug, which has a cargo capsule to be delivered to Earth. The personnell capsule I would ride in is completely self contained, so there are no umbilicals to disconnect when it is lifted out of the payload bay of the orbiter. It is 4 meters long, and 3 meters wide, so there is not a lot of space, but 9 people can survive in it for 10 days. The orbiter switches payloads, briefly fires its main engines, and begins re-entry.<br /><br />The space tug begins a burn to raise its orbit, only what it is burning is superheated water, which has passed through a nuclear reactor and been turned to steam. The reactor is powered down after the burn, to standby for another burn to circularize its orbit. That orbit is about 500 kilomters, where atmospheric resistance has fallen off to negligable. This orbit allows the space station to use low power thrusters for station keeping, firing them frequently. Because they are ion drives, they use very little fuel. At the space station, passengers depart the personnell capsule, and go their seperate ways. <br /><br />Passangers for the Moon and points east transfer to a Lunar shuttle, which is a sphere with landing gear. Using kerosene and lox, it enters a rapid transfer orbit, which swings it behind the Moon to lose some velocity, and depends on rocket braking to land gently on the Moon. This vehicle is able to land on surfaces up to 8 degrees off of the horizontal, which enables it to <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>