– could the space shuttle just fly into space like a plane, rather than being propelled vertically by rockets?
In: 48
Absolutely, just not with current technology. The space shuttle is indeed a plane, albeit with smaller wings because they aren’t generally needed to provide lift as there is a giant rocket strapped to it. However they shuttle did land as a plane would, so they did indeed provide lift.
As far as the design being able to fly, sure. It would require some massive thrust and a ton of fuel as well as probably a long runway. The problem is with current tech we don’t have anything efficient enough to effectively do it. That’s why they use the rockets and go straight up.
The goal for the future is looking more towards flying as a plane would if they wanted to do much space flight. It would likely be a system that ran a fuel that provided its own oxygen as there is not enough in the upper atmosphere and there is none in space.
Really probably going to rely on some form of nuclear power.
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