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I am suspicious of any new vehicle until it actully has a successful flight. The track record of proposed vehicles ever actually flying is pretty bad.
Yes. I had hopes that SpaceX might break this trend (still might), but they’ve appeared to slip several months. It’s by no means a death knell, but it has me curious as to what’s going on.
Kistler has me skeptical because I can see how much work they have left to do before they can launch anything. They have a lot of hardware, true, but every passing month eats into the ‘shelf life’ of the hardware, further dissipates what knowledge of/familiarity with the design remains, and makes it that much harder all around to restart development and manufacturing.
Reusable Rocket Finally Ready?
Kistler Aerospace K-1
Do you remember the reusable, two-stage to orbit vehicle being built by Kistler Aerospace? They reorganized under Chapter 11 last year. Long before that — 1998 or
Amazing. Were the pieces-parts still hanging about Bldg. 303? Did they ever put caps in the LAP RP Domes, built the toroidal LOX Tank, or solidify the downcomer design?
The parts in the hangar (303?) were moved who-knows-where (420?) last summer/fall to make room for Orbiter tooling storage. The K-1 tooling is mostly still in place, but is being progressively squeezed in upon by the new NCAM monument tools. The office trailers are still out on the apron by Final Assembly, though…brand new and never occupied.
I know next to nothing about the design, as I was in Palmdale working on VentureStar the entire time K-1 was going on (and no, the dark humor of that does not escape me).
What can I say that won’t sound sardonic? I feel your pain…
Think X Prize.