Liberty
A proposal put forth by ATK and Astrium is to use a five-segment version of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster as a first stage and a liquid-core first stage of an Ariane 5 as the second stage of a proposed rocket named Liberty. Such a design would cut costs and development time by using already-proven technologies. Liberty will be 90 meters in length with a projected capability of carrying 20 metric tonnes to low earth orbit. It is projected that this rocket would be flight-capable by 2013 and human-certified by 2015. Some of the potential crew vehicles are being developed with funds from the Commercial Crew Development program.
Read more about this topic: Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle
Famous quotes containing the word liberty:
“Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as by the abuses of power.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“To introduce a new play only six weeks after another has been banned is also a way to speak one’s piece to the government. It proves that art and liberty can grow back in one night under the clumsy foot which crushes them.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Montesquieu well knew, and justly admired, the happy constitution of this country [Great Britain], where fixed and known laws equally restrain monarchy from tyranny and liberty from licentiousness.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)