Quote:
Originally Posted by ballaratdragons
I'm sorry to sound negative, but aren't we passed the stage of Apollo style capsules and splashdowns in the ocean?
I would have expected the Shuttle missions to teach us how to build craft that land on runways and are totally re-usable.
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Ken it's all down to cost. The shuttles never got to be an economic proposition. Making them reusable meant they had to be more sturdy than a use once craft, which meant they had to be heavier, which made them more expensive to launch and had to be thoroughly checked out before reuse.
A use once craft just gets recycled when it returns. The ocean is a lot softer than a runway and you don't have to take landing gear into orbit.