🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4XwVpQy00Xc94aJ3IN@andrew.cmu.edu> kr0u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin William Ryan) writes:
>   Now, it's been said (with questionable veracity) that the Soviets have
>copied their Shuttle from us.  What are the possibilities of copying some big
>boosters from them?  Not necessarily Energia, but perhaps Proton?  I would
>think that it's in the same class as redoing the Saturn V...

No reason to clone Proton when we have Titan III/IV.

There has been debate in this forum over whether or to what degree the
Soviets copied the US Shuttle.  The idea was generally poo-poohed, more
than I thought warranted.  Main differences cited are that the SSMEs are
gone, the OMS system moved into the main fuselage, the wings shifted
forward, and the nosewheel moved back.  Someone offered as evidence of
non-copying that Buran's rudder was split into top and bottom halves.
But the US Shuttle has that same split.  It just looks more pronounced on
Buran because the borders between black and white tiles are more blocky, with
more surface ending up black.  I'm not convinced that a clean sheet design
would have come up with the same tail, complete with cutout to clear the
center/upper SSME's blast.

More similarities are noted in a recent AW&ST article (Jan 16, 1989, p.36):

    Soviet officials here [Baikonur Cosmodrome] acknowledged that their
    orbiter's basic design is patterned after that of the U.S. ...  orbiter.

    A closer examination of the Soviet spacecraft's design shows that
    the similarities begin with the overall configuration, and continue
    to such details as the form and layout of the forward fuselage's
    flight deck, middeck and equipment bay;  the payload bay
    configuration;  the general philosophy used for the cockpit
    instrument panel layout, and the installation of the reaction
    control system.

    Drawings of the orbiter's crew compartment show that it is divided
    into three levels, which seem patterned directly after those of the
    U.S. space shuttle orbiter.

    As with the U.S. orbiter, modular lockers are located forward on the
    middeck, while the middeck's aft portion can be equipped with an
    airlock.

    The orbiter side hatch for crew entry and egress is located at the
    middeck level.  The hatch is about the same size as the 40-in.-dia.
    side hatch on the U.S. orbiter--which also is positioned at the
    middeck.

    The Soviet orbiter's payload bay doors also are nearly identical to
    those used on the U.S. vehicle... [including radiator panels]

-- 

			David R. Smith, HP Labs
			dsmith@hplabs.hp.com
			(415) 857-7898