So,eventhough it was "main-main" thread but on serious side of it....I always have the concept & solution.
This was my concept of Shuttle-Saturn Launch vehicle which can be used to carrying up to 7-8 astronauts beyond low earth orbit mission,but at the same time can carry a same amount of weighted payload size comparable to modern-day space shuttle orbiter.
The concept actually has been thought by NASA adminstration even before the Space Shuttle was actually built.But,after Nixon adminstration signed executive order to stopped the production of costly but powerful Apollo booster(Saturn V) the plan for combination of Saturn launch vehicle with reusable spaceplane was scrapped.
Instead the STS(Space Transport System) would be a Space Shuttle that combined Orbiter vehicle,SSME-External Tank,& 2 Solid Rocket Booster(SRB) to assist the first few minute of lift-off.
This is the study of the same concept,but as the time past,NASA proven that SRB was quite powerful as substitute of the first stage S-1C that was used for Apollo Saturn V launch vehicle.
This advancement led to the new design of Shuttle-Saturn launch system which inluded a stack of Space Shuttle(Orbiter vehicle,External tank & SRB) piggyback with the S-1C booster to assist the lift-off trajectory speed.
The S-1C stage would be jettisoned after 2 minute of powered flight,which put the Space Shuttle stack on the top to projected speed of 9,900 km/h before SRB/SSME engine ignition sequences to propel the orbiter vehicle to reach its targeted orbital speed.(Depending on mission)
For those didnt know,Saturn V,which propeled the Apollo Spacecraft to reach the moon during manned lunar surface exploration mission under Apollo Space Program,was still considered the most powerful launch vehicle ever built.
To propel the 3 combined spacecraft(Apollo spacecraft,which consist of Lunar Excursion Module or LEM,Command Module(CM) & Service Module(SM) ) into trajectory which taken the the 3 crew to lunar orbit & escaping earth gravitational force,the Saturn V was made for this purpose.
Saturn V,which was the largest multi-staged launch vehicle ever made in the world,was 363 ft tall in height,more than Lady liberty including the Statue foundation itself.
Weighted at wet weight approx. around 7-8 million tonne,it also the heaviest launch vehicle ever made in the world.The first stage alone(S-1C) which powered by world most powerful single-noozle turbopump engine,the RocketDyne F-1.
5 F-1 engine gimballed at the bottom of first stage,which is actually a cylindrical structure that consisted the propellant that would generated the gut-wrenching up from 160 million to almost 190 million horsepower(Compared to today Space Shuttle SSME which all 3 engine made up to 44 million horsepower) & more than 7.5 million pound of vertical thrust,nessesary to provide targeted delta-V for first 2 minute of ascent liff-off for more than 3,000 km/h before jettisoned for top upper stage ignition sequences.
With all 3 stage including a multi-restart single J-2 engine on last S-IVB stage (the third & the last stage of Saturn V rocket,which also carrying lunar module stored beneath 4 gatormouth' adapter & Saturn V instruments unit) would be restarted upon reaching its gravitational slingshot on earth orbit,& the last engine firing of the stage would propel complete assembly of Apollo spacecraft to the orbital speed up to 36,000 miles per hour....to reach the midcourse point where the gravitational force of moon would then slowly pulled the spacecraft into the moon trans-lunar coast that enable the spacecraft to finally reach lunar orbit.
Apollo spacecraft,& its launch vehicle Saturn V are single-use only spaceflight vehicle system.The staging sequences of each stage are not recovered & the only spacecraft part that returned after lunar mission is Command Module,which would badly burned by ablation heat-shield system & crushable ribs that absorbing the impact during ocean recovery would rendered the spacecraft to be considered as "end of its life cycle".(For each new mission,the Saturn V booster & the Apollo spacecraft would be re-made,suggesting the enourmous cost needed for Apollo manned lunar mission program,which also one of the reason for its cancellation after Apollo 17 mission,from planned 20 lunar surface exploration program)
