Britain in Space
British Spaceplanes of the 1960s
RAE Two-Stage to Orbit concept (1960's)
A Royal Aircraft Establishment plan for a two-stage orbital aircraft. The first stage
would accelerate to hypersonic speed using air-breathing engines, at which point the
second stage would be released. The second stage would then use conventional rockets
to power it into orbit.
RAE Orbital Fighter (1960's)
A European Orbital Fighter, with an orbital stage similar to America's X-20. The first
stage would have been ramjet-powered.
Blue Streak/Waverider (1960's)
A Hawker Siddeley project. An upgraded, winged Blue Streak rocket with 8 engines would
use a second stage to launch a manned waverider. This second stage could possibly be
nuclear (!) which would allow the orbiter to reach the moon! A manned lunar landing
based on this system was proposed for 1970.
BAC MUSTARD (1964-1965)
An artist's impression of the MUSTARD spaceplane
MUSTARD was an acronym for Multi Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device. Three fully reusable delta-shaped craft would be mated together. Two would act as boosters for the third stage, which was orbital. These boosters could then be flown back either by remote control or an on-board pilot. Fuel could be transferred from the boosters into the orbiter, allowing the orbiter to reach Earth orbit with a full fuel load. An orbiter with such a full fuel load would have been capable of reaching the moon.
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