Mir Rescue Mission, 2000

[Alvis 3.14159]

With the discovery in 1999 that the ex-Soviet Mir Space Station was due to crash into Denver Colorado in the next 18 months, the National Security Agency utilised a small portion of it's "Dark Arts" budget and attempted a mission to prevent the catastrophe. Using a combination of cold-war era American and Soviet space vehicles, the mission launched from a secret US launch facility located on Kwajalein Atoll

[Alvis 3.14159]

Uprated F-1 engines powered a modified first stage, which sported enlarged fins for added low stability when launching oversized or bulky payloads.

The second stage had uprated SSME RS-25 engines, and was stretched to allow for additional fuel, enough to loft the Buran shuttle into orbit.

SRBs from the STS Shuttle program were sourced, although slightly shorter than standard issue units. They allowed the stack to have enough thrust for liftoff, and dropped off sooner than the ones used on an American shuttle would have.

[Alvis 3.14159]

The Soviet-era Buran shuttle was hastily refurbished and incorporated several components from spares "borrowed" from NASA and several contractors that were involved in the building and maintenance of the US shuttle fleet. The Buran was utilised as it could be used without arousing any suspicion, unlike the US shuttles, as their absence from the flight schedule would be difficult to explain. Several options for boosting Mir into a higher orbit or rapidly de-orbiting it were carried in the capacious cargo bay (although the Russians had offered to use a 20 year old ASAT device, but safety concerns led to that being rejected)

The primary pilot was "Bad" Bobby Lousma, the evil twin of Jack Lousma, who is one of the nicest people around. Bobby added some USMC markings, and personalised the port side of the Buran. It's unknown who "Barb" is, but it's rumoured she runs a top secret bar in an abandoned Titan II missile silo somewhere in the American Southwest.

[zenrat]

 

Very good.  Do the tiles absolutely have to be the colours they are on Burans (and Shuttles) or is there scope for a repaint?

[PR19_Kit]

VEEEEERY Interesting! 

[Weaver]

Oh I like that! 

Not as crazy as the uninitiated might think either. Several early Space Shuttle concept had it launching via a Saturn 5.
Some used the S-1C stage unmodifed, others added wings, cockpit, wheels and jet engines in order to make it recoverable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn-Shuttle

[Dizzyfugu]

  Love the NSA tags.

[NARSES2]

Terrific build sir 

[scooter]

Very good.  Do the tiles absolutely have to be the colours they are on Burans (and Shuttles) or is there scope for a repaint?

The "real world" reason <<LINK!>> (pertinent extracts below):
Reinforced Carbon-carbon (the grey): protects areas where temperatures exceed 2,300F during entry.
Black High-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (HRSI) (the black tiles): protect areas where temperatures are below 2,300F.
Fibrous Refractory Composite Insulation (FRCI) (more black tiles): mostly used on the base of the shuttle; this is where the highest heat is encountered.
Low-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (LRSI) (the white tiles): protect areas where temperatures are below 1,200F. The tiles are white since while in orbit the shuttle encounters extremely low temperatures and the white surface provides better thermal characteristics when the temperature is below 0F.
Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation (AFRSI) blankets (more white): used in areas where the temperature does not exceed 1,200F.
Nomex Felt Reusable Surface Insulation (even more white): used in areas where the temperature does not exceed 700F (bay doors and portions of the upper wing)

Of course, this being Whiffworld, there's always a whiffy solution, like Unobtanium, Spackmanium, or Narsesnium, etc. having superior thermal characteristics versus the standard tile/blanket materials, which allows for the shuttle to be painted in a "pattern disruptive scheme".

[NARSES2]

Of course, this being Whiffworld, there's always a whiffy solution, like Unobtanium, Spackmanium, or Narsesnium, etc. having superior thermal characteristics versus the standard tile/blanket materials, which allows for the shuttle to be painted in a "pattern disruptive scheme".

I'm both honoured and humbled sir 

[Gondor]

That's a terrible joke on the Cargo Door side..... I like it 

Gondor

[Alvis 3.14159]

Oh I like that! 

Not as crazy as the uninitiated might think either. Several early Space Shuttle concept had it launching via a Saturn 5.
Some used the S-1C stage unmodifed, others added wings, cockpit, wheels and jet engines in order to make it recoverable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn-Shuttle

That's where I drew my inspiration from for this build. I toyed with an S1 Flyback option, but for the sake of actually completing something, I skipped past that.

[buzzbomb]

So good. Really like this

[Weaver]

That's where I drew my inspiration from for this build. I toyed with an S1 Flyback option, but for the sake of actually completing something, I skipped past that.

Thunked as much.

There were MUCH madder schemes than that delta Shuttle-on-steroids in the pic. One had low-mounted 747-style wings right aft with 6 or 8 jet engines on their top surfaces and an asymetric fighter-style cockpit on one wing... Trying to build flyback boosters in Kerbal Space Program immediately shows you the reason for this layout: once its tanks are empty, the booster's CofG is right at the back near the engines, so getting the centre of lift behind it becomes a problem. One way to solve it is swept wings mounted right aft, then they make launch pad arrangements more complicated. Another approach is to drag the empty CofG forwards by putting everything else (cockpit, flyback engines etc..) right at the nose, but then that brings issues of it's own, namely that all the intakes and exhausts have to be retractable.

There was another scheme to have the S-1C descend on giant parachutes and get plucked out of the air by a giant helicopter! Electron in NZ have recently revisited this idea, but on a much smaller scale.

[zenrat]

Very good.  Do the tiles absolutely have to be the colours they are on Burans (and Shuttles) or is there scope for a repaint?

The "real world" reason <<LINK!>> (pertinent extracts below):
Reinforced Carbon-carbon (the grey): protects areas where temperatures exceed 2,300F during entry.
Black High-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (HRSI) (the black tiles): protect areas where temperatures are below 2,300F.
Fibrous Refractory Composite Insulation (FRCI) (more black tiles): mostly used on the base of the shuttle; this is where the highest heat is encountered.
Low-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (LRSI) (the white tiles): protect areas where temperatures are below 1,200F. The tiles are white since while in orbit the shuttle encounters extremely low temperatures and the white surface provides better thermal characteristics when the temperature is below 0F.
Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation (AFRSI) blankets (more white): used in areas where the temperature does not exceed 1,200F.
Nomex Felt Reusable Surface Insulation (even more white): used in areas where the temperature does not exceed 700F (bay doors and portions of the upper wing)
Of course, this being Whiffworld, there's always a whiffy solution, like Unobtanium, Spackmanium, or Narsesnium, etc. having superior thermal characteristics versus the standard tile/blanket materials, which allows for the shuttle to be painted in a "pattern disruptive scheme".

Thanks Scoot.
I was thinking keep the black parts but give the white areas digital camo in grey.  Or a Tiger Meet scheme?