Shuttle-derived vehicles (SDV) are space launch vehicles and

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

that use components, technology, and infrastructure originally developed for the

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, NASA formally studied a cargo-only vehicle,

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 to take the pl ...

, that would have supplemented the crewed Space Shuttle. In 2005, NASA was developing the

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 interpretatio graeca, identified with the Roman god Mars (mythology), Mars. Ares I w ...

and

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 plan ...

launch vehicles, based in part on highly modified Shuttle components, to enable exploration of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. The agency also studied a third such vehicle, the Ares IV. NASA Artemis 1 Launch

After the earlier programs were cancelled, NASA began development of the

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Super heavy-lift launch vehicle, super heavy-lift Expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis program, Artemis Moon landing progra ...

(SLS) in 2011. SLS is a super heavy-lift

expendable launch vehicle An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are destroyed during reentry or impact with Earth, or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of s ...

. Its core stage is structurally and visually similar to the

Space Shuttle external tank The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the ...

. Each SLS launch reuses and expends four of the pre-flown RS-25D engines that were de-mounted from the Space shuttles. SLS also uses a pair of

solid rocket booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give laun ...

s derived from the

Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) was the first solid-propellant rocket to be used for primary propulsion on a vehicle used for human spaceflight. A pair of them provided 85% of the Space Shuttle's thrust at liftoff and for the first ...

. The first SLS was delivered to Kennedy Space Center in 2021 for the

Artemis 1 Artemis I, formerly Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), was an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission that was launched in November 2022. As the first major spaceflight of NASA's Artemis program, Artemis I marked the agency's return to lunar exploration a ...

mission. , this SLS was rolled out to

Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) is the second of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39A, was first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle, ...

for several attempts to launch, finally launching on 16 November 2022.

Concepts

SDV concepts were proposed even before the Space Shuttle itself began flying.

Shuttle-C

The Shuttle-C was a study by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

to turn the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

launch stack into a dedicated uncrewed cargo launcher. The

and

s (SRBs) would be combined with a cargo module in place of the shuttle orbiter including the

RS-25 The RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is used on the Space Launch System. Designed and manufactured in the United States by Rocketd ...

engines. Various Shuttle-C concepts were investigated between 1984 and 1995.

National Launch System

The National Launch System (or New Launch System) was a study authorized in 1991 by President George H. W. Bush to outline alternatives to the

for access to Earth orbit. Shortly thereafter, NASA asked Lockheed Missiles and Space,

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...

, 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 The RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is used on the Space Launch System. Designed and manufactured in the United States by Rocketd ...

(SSME). The NLS-1 was the largest of three proposed vehicles and would have used a modified

for its core stage. The tank would have fed

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...

and

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen () is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecule, molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point (thermodynamics), critical point of 33 Kelvins, ...

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

s 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 Constellation program was the development of

and booster vehicles to replace the

. NASA had already begun designing two boosters, the

and

, when the program was created. 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 A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

that was being developed by

as part of the

Constellation program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a " ...

. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

, who is identified with the Roman god

. Ares I was originally known as the "Crew Launch Vehicle" (CLV). NASA planned to use Ares I to launch Orion, the

intended for NASA

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

missions after the

was retired in 2011. Ares I was to complement the larger, uncrewed

, which was the cargo launch vehicle for Constellation. NASA selected the Ares designs for their anticipated overall safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness. However, the Constellation program, including Ares I was cancelled by U.S. president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

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

, which was to have replaced the

after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on

. Ares V and the smaller

were named after

, the Greek god of war. The Ares V was to launch the Earth Departure Stage and

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila (constellation), Aquila and the list of brightest stars, twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinisation of name ...

lunar lander for NASA's return to the

, which was planned for 2019. 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 Human-rating certification, also known as man-rating or crew-rating, is the certification of a spacecraft or launch vehicle as capable of safely transporting humans. There is no one particular standard for human-rating a spacecraft or launch veh ...

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 Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

, the Shuttle program, and the

Delta IV Delta IV was a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family. It flew 45 missions from 2002 to 2024. Originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) p ...

EELV program. However, the Constellation program, including Ares V was cancelled by U.S. president

in October 2010 with the passage of his 2010 NASA authorization bill.

Ares IV

The Ares IV concept combines an Ares I upper stage on top of an Ares V. Specifically, the vehicle would consist of the liquid-fueled core stage from the Ares V design, two five-segment

s, 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 The RS-68 (Rocket System-68) was a liquid-fuel rocket engine that used liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as propellants in a gas-generator cycle. It was the largest hydrogen-fueled rocket engine ever flown. Designed and manufacture ...

engines and two five-segment SRBs and have had a low Earth orbit payload of approximately . If chosen, Ares V Lite would have replaced the Ares V and

launchers. One Ares V Lite version would have been a cargo lifter like Ares V and the second version would have carried astronauts in the Orion spacecraft.Augustine Committee 2009, pp. 38, 64–67, 80.

NASA Side-Mount Vehicle

The Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) was an alternate

super heavy-lift launch vehicle A super heavy-lift launch vehicle is a rocket that can lift to low Earth orbit a "super heavy payload", which is defined as more than by the United States and as more than by Russia. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass ...

proposal for the

. It was first presented to the Augustine Commission on 17 June 2009. Based on the

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

(ET) and

s (SRBs) would have remained the same.

Jupiter

The Jupiter family of

s was part of the proposed

DIRECT Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), ...

Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle architecture. It was intended to be the alternative to the

and

rockets. Major benefits were projected from re-using as much hardware and facilities from the

as possible, including cost savings, experience with existing hardware, and preserving the workforce.

Space Launch System

The Space Launch System (SLS) is a U.S. super heavy-lift

, which is used in the

Artemis program The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-ter ...

. It is very similar in design to the NLS-1 concept. It is the primary launch vehicle of

's deep space exploration plans, including the planned crewed lunar flights of the

and a possible follow-on

human mission to Mars The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Long-term proposals have included sending settlers and terraforming the p ...

. Its first launch,

, flew on 16 November 2022.

Liberty

Liberty was a 2011

concept proposed by

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK reven ...

(ATK) and

Astrium Astrium was a European aerospace company and subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), headquartered in Paris. It designed, developed and manufactured civil and military space systems and provided related services ...

for phase 2 of the

Commercial Crew Development Development of the Commercial Crew Program (CCDev) began in the second round of the program, which was rescoped from a smaller technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the space ...

(CCDev) program intended to stimulate development of privately operated

crew A crew is a body or a group of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchy, hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the ta ...

vehicles A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velomobiles), animal-powered tr ...

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

. Similar to the defunct

project, which consisted of a five segment

(SRB) and a new cryogenic second stage, Liberty would combine a five-segment SRB with the core stage of the European

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationar ...

as a second stage.Canceled NASA Rocket Could Return as Part of Low-Cost Space Taxi
/ref>

Gallery

File:Shuttle-c launch painting.jpg, Artist's concept of the Shuttle-C launch vehicle. File:Nls launch family.svg, Proposed NLS family of launch vehicles. File:Jupiter Family.jpg, Possible configurations of the Jupiter launch vehicle family. File:High Confidence Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle Diagram.jpg, A diagram of the Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle. File:SLS Configuration.jpg, Planned evolution of the Space Launch System. File:Liberty Launch Vehicle.jpg, Artist's concept of the Liberty launch vehicle.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

{{NASA navbox Partially reusable space launch vehicles

Launch Vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

NASA space launch vehicles