Among the early concepts for the space shuttle back in the early seenties was an unique proposal in which three identicat spacecraft hulls were attached in a parallel stage arrangement that luanches the complete package horizontally.
The outer hulls flank the center hull which achieves orbit while the right and left flank vehicles at as a first stage and have turbofan flyback capability for reusability, landing horizontally.
Major advantage is that as all hulls are the same, you only design them once and save on design costs of seperate flyback boosters.
If the trimenese spaceframes are identical, then the common hulls would each contain a large cargo bay that in booster or first stage mode would be filled with propellants while the designated orbiter contained mission equipment. Any hull could be a booster first stage or orbiter as dictated by mission needs. It is not impossible for the flanking stages to carry a cargo pod that is jettisoned after engine burnout and before staging.
The orbiter would have sufficent payload capability to carry an unmanned spacecraft intended for geosyncronos orbit or on to the moon and beyond.
For safety, the crew would be housed in the nose with a launch escape tower that would pull the pilot/passenger nose to saftey wih an upward rather than side ejection.
The outer hulls flank the center hull which achieves orbit while the right and left flank vehicles at as a first stage and have turbofan flyback capability for reusability, landing horizontally.
Major advantage is that as all hulls are the same, you only design them once and save on design costs of seperate flyback boosters.
If the trimenese spaceframes are identical, then the common hulls would each contain a large cargo bay that in booster or first stage mode would be filled with propellants while the designated orbiter contained mission equipment. Any hull could be a booster first stage or orbiter as dictated by mission needs. It is not impossible for the flanking stages to carry a cargo pod that is jettisoned after engine burnout and before staging.
The orbiter would have sufficent payload capability to carry an unmanned spacecraft intended for geosyncronos orbit or on to the moon and beyond.
For safety, the crew would be housed in the nose with a launch escape tower that would pull the pilot/passenger nose to saftey wih an upward rather than side ejection.
