SDV concepts were proposed even before the Space Shuttle itself began flying.
Shuttle-C The Shuttle-C was a study by
NASA to turn the
Space Shuttle launch stack into a dedicated uncrewed cargo launcher. The
Space Shuttle external tank and
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would be combined with a cargo module in place of the shuttle orbiter including the
RS-25 engines. Various Shuttle-C concepts were investigated between 1984 and 1995, but were never implemented.
National Launch System The National Launch System (or New Launch System) was a study authorized in 1991 by
President George H. W. Bush to study alternatives to the
Space Shuttle for access to Earth orbit. Shortly thereafter, NASA asked
Lockheed Missiles and Space,
McDonnell Douglas, and
TRW to perform a ten-month study. A series of launch vehicles was proposed, based around the proposed Space Transportation Main Engine (STME)
liquid-fuel rocket engine. The STME was to be a simplified, expendable version of the
Space Shuttle main engine (SSME). The NLS-1 was the largest of three proposed vehicles and would have used a modified
Space Shuttle external tank for its core stage. The tank would have fed
liquid oxygen and
liquid hydrogen to four STMEs attached to the bottom of the tank. A payload or
second stage would have fit atop the core stage, and two detachable
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters would have been mounted on the sides of the core stage as on the Shuttle. Period illustrations suggest that much larger rockets than NLS-1 were contemplated, using multiples of the NLS-1 core stage.
Constellation program One of the main goals of the Constellation program was the development of
spacecraft and
booster vehicles to replace the
Space Shuttle. NASA had already begun designing two rockets, the
Ares I and
Ares V, when the program was established. Ares I was designed for the sole purpose of launching mission crews into orbit, while Ares V would have been used to launch other hardware which required a heavier lift capacity than the Ares I booster provided.
Ares I Ares I was the crew
launch vehicle that was being developed by
NASA as part of the
Constellation program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity
Ares, who is
identified with the Roman god
Mars. However, the Constellation program, including Ares I was cancelled by U.S. president
Barack Obama in October 2010 with the passage of his 2010 NASA authorization bill.
Ares V The Ares V (formerly known as the Cargo Launch Vehicle or CaLV) was the planned cargo launch component of the cancelled
NASA Constellation program, which was to have replaced the
Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on
Mars. Ares V and the smaller
Ares I were named after
Ares, the Greek god of war. It would also have served as the principal launcher for missions beyond the Earth-Moon system, including the program's ultimate goal, a crewed mission to Mars. The uncrewed Ares V would complement the smaller, and
human-rated Ares I rocket for the launching of the 4–6 person
Orion spacecraft. Both rockets, deemed safer than the then-current Space Shuttle, would have employed technologies developed for the
Apollo program, the Shuttle program, and the
Delta IV EELV program. Specifically, the vehicle would consist of the liquid-fueled core stage from the Ares V design, two five-segment
solid rocket boosters, and the liquid-fueled upper stage from the Ares I, as described by NASA in January 2007. The Ares IV would be a combined tall and could be used to reach the Moon. Total payload capacity would be to for direct trans-lunar injection. NASA had considered using Ares IV to evaluate high-speed "skip" reentry profiles of the Orion capsule in 2007. NASA had planned flight demonstrations of Ares I and Ares V hardware in "Heavy Lift" configurations beginning in 2013. The "Heavy Lift" test flights were to test the first stage of the Ares V simultaneously with the Ares I upper stage attached on top to save both time and money. The later Heavy Lift test vehicle configurations are similar to the Ares IV vehicle.
Ares V Lite Ares V Lite was an alternative launch vehicle for NASA's Constellation program suggested by the
Augustine Commission. Ares V Lite was a scaled down Ares V. It would have used five
RS-68 engines and two five-segment SRBs and have had a low Earth orbit payload of approximately .
NASA Side-Mount Vehicle The Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) was an alternate
super heavy-lift launch vehicle proposal for the
NASA Constellation program. It was first presented to the
Augustine Commission on 17 June 2009. Based on the
Shuttle-C concept which has been the subject of various studies since the 1980s, the HLV was a SDLV that proposed to replace the winged Orbiter from the Space Shuttle stack with a side-mounted payload carrier. The
Space Shuttle external tank (ET) and
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would have remained the same.
Jupiter The Jupiter family of
super heavy-lift launch vehicles was part of the proposed
DIRECT Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle architecture. It was intended to be the alternative to the
Ares I and
Ares V rockets. Major benefits were projected from re-using as much hardware and facilities from the
Space Shuttle program as possible, including cost savings, experience with existing hardware, and preserving the workforce. including the crewed lunar flights of the
Artemis program and a possible follow-on
human mission to Mars. Its first launch,
Artemis 1, flew on 16 November 2022. Its first crewed launch,
Artemis 2, carried four astronauts (
Reid Wiseman,
Christina Koch,
Victor Glover, and
Jeremy Hansen) to a lunar flyby, breaking the distance record for furthest humans from Earth, previously held by
Apollo 13.
Liberty Liberty was a 2011
launch vehicle concept proposed by
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and
Astrium for phase 2 of the
NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program intended to stimulate development of privately operated
crew vehicles to
low Earth orbit. Similar to the defunct
Ares I project, which consisted of a five segment
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) and a new cryogenic second stage, Liberty would combine a five-segment SRB with the core stage of the European
Ariane 5 as a
second stage.{{cite web == Gallery ==