Dear lord what a beautiful plane

[just Warren]

I can't tell if it's shopped but I hope one day to see a plane like this in person.

And the article is interesting as well.

[geronimotwo]

calling steve austin........

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

calling steve austin........

Only if Martin Caidin is involved.

[birdman]

I can't tell if it's shopped but I hope one day to see a plane like this in person.

And the article is interesting as well.

It will only happen if euro subsidized.  $10M for a 500lb payload?  All that would happen is SpaceX would dust off the falcon-1 plans (nearly double the payload for $12M, and that was before they were making Merlin's by the 100's) and say good bye.

[Tallpine]

So the upper stage becomes space trash?

I'm trying to figure out how they "separate" 

Dive the mother ship and then drop the flaps and gear so it slides off 

You couldn't fire the rockets without burning off the tail fin.

[birdman]

So the upper stage becomes space trash?

I'm trying to figure out how they "separate" 

Dive the mother ship and then drop the flaps and gear so it slides off 

You couldn't fire the rockets without burning off the tail fin.

Same way the separated the enterprise from the 747, just release it with it commanded to pull up (aerodynamically), the carrier aircraft then turns away, and the minishuttle starts.

The upper stage will remain in its low duration parking orbit, but will likely be forced to have some retrofire capability to minimize its lifetime...like every other upper stage.

[Regolith]

So the upper stage becomes space trash?

I'm trying to figure out how they "separate" 

Dive the mother ship and then drop the flaps and gear so it slides off 

You couldn't fire the rockets without burning off the tail fin.

My guess is the plane flies in a parabolic arc, and releases the parasite craft near the top of the arc. Parasite craft hits its motors as soon as the larger plane is clear.

Same way the separated the enterprise from the 747, just release it with it commanded to pull up (aerodynamically), the carrier aircraft then turns away, and the minishuttle starts.

The upper stage will remain in its low duration parking orbit, but will likely be forced to have some retrofire capability to minimize its lifetime...like every other upper stage.

...or that. 

[TommyGunn]

calling steve austin........

Only if Martin Caidin is involved.

Martin Caidin created the character ... how can you have the one without the other? 

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Martin Caidin created the character ... how can you have the one without the other? 

ABC did. And it sucked

[Fly320s]

Looks like the Heart of Gold.

[AJ Dual]

Just use it as a booster for the existing Airbus fleet.

Call it the RAPTOR.

ROCKET
ASSISTED
PASSENGER
TRANSPORT
OVER
RANGE

[Fly320s]

You couldn't fire the rockets without burning off the tail fin.

It is an A300. The tail falls off easy enough on its own.

[TommyGunn]

Martin Caidin created the character ... how can you have the one without the other?  

ABC did. And it sucked

ABC ran the TV series "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" from @ 1974 through 1979.   The roll of "Steve Austin" was played by Lee Majors.  You may think the series "sucked," but I rather enjoyed it.
You are apparantly unaware the show was based on a novel titled CYBORG which was written in 1972 by SF author Martin Caidin, also responsible for "Marooned," also made into a Gregory Peck movie, as well as many other books both about SF subjects as well as airplanes.
Steve Austin was created by Caidin, and in the novel he was the last astronaut to set foot on the moon (a feat accomplished in real life by Eugene Cernan) in the Apollo Seventeen mission.  In the book Colonel Stephen Austin then became a NASA test pilot, flying the ill-fated lifting body called the "M3F5" (In the TV series renamed the "HL-10," a real NASA test vehicle) which crashed, leading to a series of operations making him a "cyborg," which was the basic (though rather altered) theme of the TV movie and later series.  

[Sergeant Bob]

ABC did. And it sucked


ABC ran the TV series "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" from @ 1974 through 1979.   The roll of "Steve Austin" was played by Lee Majors.  You may think the series "sucked," but I rather enjoyed it.
You are apparantly unaware the show was based on a novel titled CYBORG which was written in 1972 by SF author Martin Caidin, also responsible for "Marooned," also made into a Gregory Peck movie, as well as many other books both about SF subjects as well as airplanes.
Steve Austin was created by Caidin, and in the novel he was the last astronaut to set foot on the moon (a feat accomplished in real life by Eugene Cernan) in the Apollo Seventeen mission.  In the book Colonel Stephen Austin then became a NASA test pilot, flying the ill-fated lifting body called the "M3F5" (In the TV series renamed the "HL-10," a real NASA test vehicle) which crashed, leading to a series of operations making him a "cyborg," which was the basic (though rather altered) theme of the TV movie and later series.  

Very enlightening.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

ABC did. And it sucked


ABC ran the TV series "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN" from @ 1974 through 1979.   The roll of "Steve Austin" was played by Lee Majors.  You may think the series "sucked," but I rather enjoyed it.
You are apparantly unaware the show was based on a novel titled CYBORG which was written in 1972 by SF author Martin Caidin, also responsible for "Marooned," also made into a Gregory Peck movie, as well as many other books both about SF subjects as well as airplanes.
Steve Austin was created by Caidin, and in the novel he was the last astronaut to set foot on the moon (a feat accomplished in real life by Eugene Cernan) in the Apollo Seventeen mission.  In the book Colonel Stephen Austin then became a NASA test pilot, flying the ill-fated lifting body called the "M3F5" (In the TV series renamed the "HL-10," a real NASA test vehicle) which crashed, leading to a series of operations making him a "cyborg," which was the basic (though rather altered) theme of the TV movie and later series.  

Umm. Not unaware that Martin Caidin created Steve Austin.  Dont know where you assumed that?  Also know that the ABC series was a cash cow, and sucked, compared to the books (IMO). Operation Nuke, High Crystal and Cyborg IV are subsequent novels by Caidin featuring Steve Austin.   

Good read concerning Caidins books

http://borg.com/2012/01/09/book-review-cyborg-martin-caidins-novel-that-started-it-all/

[Stand_watie]

na-na-na-na-na-na...that's the bionic man sound. Remember that vividly from the 1st and 2nd grade. Running fast...na-na-na-na-na...throwing far na-na-na-na-na-na

[MillCreek]

And, to make sure that no one gets the wrong idea, Martin Caidin had nothing to do with the Six Million Dollar Woman.

[birdman]

And, to make sure that no one gets the wrong idea, Martin Caidin had nothing to do with the Six Million Dollar Woman.

Bionic woman.  :)

[MechAg94]

Bionic woman.  :)

Yeah, they would have discounted her to $4 million at least.  Have to account for the glass ceiling and all that.   

[freakazoid]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kse0MG5n9wI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrZnLUWJnq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcyCQT-FKCA
 

[Tallpine]

It is an A300. The tail falls off easy enough on its own.

Left rudder, right rudder, left rudder, oops!

 

[MillCreek]

Bionic woman.  :)

Crap.  I apparently did a better job than I thought of putting it from my mind.

[TommyGunn]

Umm. Not unaware that Martin Caidin created Steve Austin.  Dont know where you assumed that?  Also know that the ABC series was a cash cow, and sucked, compared to the books (IMO). Operation Nuke, High Crystal and Cyborg IV are subsequent novels by Caidin featuring Steve Austin.   

Good read concerning Caidins books

http://borg.com/2012/01/09/book-review-cyborg-martin-caidins-novel-that-started-it-all/

I "assumed" that because of your statement that ABC created Steve Austin.  I don't think that was a particularly egregious error, considering the paucity of comment.
Glad to find out you know of Caidin's books.  I agree the books were better -- that is a standard truth IMHO.  The ONLY time I ever thought the Hollywood version was better than the book was The Posiedon Adventure. When I read the book I wondered how it got picked up for a movie .... but after seeing the movie, I thought it was pretty gosh darn decent.
BTW I still own all of Caidin's "Cyborg" novels as well as the novelizations that were made of the TV series.

And, to make sure that no one gets the wrong idea, Martin Caidin had nothing to do with the Six Million Dollar Woman.

Bionic woman.  :)

No, Mr. Caidin didn't create Jaime Summers.  He still got credit at the closing credits because the series was taken from his work.


Years ago when these TV series were still being made I saw Martin Caidin on a late night TV news show Tom Brokaw hosted.  I was interested in this interview as at the time I knew next to nothing about Martin Caidin besides the name and what was published on the dustcovers of his books.
So Brokaw's show comes on and there he is.  Martin Caidin -- looking like a Hell's Angel biker, leather jacket, walrus mustache and aside from that nearly bald as much as I recall.  
He discussed an event he had recently had flying a WW2 bomber -- a B-25 I think....maybe a B-24.  He was up at night over the Florida skies and encountered a...UFO!  It was a clear night with a moon, and he said that he could judge the UFO's size by comparing its shadow to the one his bomber cast, and which he knew the dimensions.  
He claimed this was a solid object, and he could not identify it.  Martin Caidin was a pilot and pretty knowledgeable about airplanes so that statement should mean something.
Another subject he discussed was help he provided in the attempt to develop an exoskeleton-like device to help paraplegics walk.  Some idiot government agency was causing him grief because they kept claiming developing "a two-point mechanical articulating system" was impossible.
Despite the fact that Caidin and his friend had done it.
Government.  Go figure.

Anyway, if you're interested in the man behind the SMDM  there's some tidbits from the recesses of my memory for you.

[kgbsquirrel]

I can't tell if it's shopped but I hope one day to see a plane like this in person.

And the article is interesting as well.

Shopped, by I like it.



Hey local aero-engineers. I was pondering how to create a super-heavy lift aircraft and I was suddenly curious if the diamond-wing shape (F-22, YF-23) could be applied to something the size of a C-5 or A380?

[geronimotwo]

na-na-na-na-na-na...that's the bionic man sound. Remember that vividly from the 1st and 2nd grade. Running fast...na-na-na-na-na...throwing far na-na-na-na-na-na

it was genius to use slow motion to create the illusion of speed.