[Loser]

Originally posted by JurijD:
Yeah I too was SO annoyed when they canceled Venture Star... I mean why the hell did they do that. It was almost working and they had several ful-size engies and a smaller prototype of the thing built and estimates said it would reduce the cost of goin to space by 70%-90% compared to the space shuttle. Those stupid %#&#"!"$#!

It was canceled because it wasn't working, wasn't going to work. The entire project depended on a whole suite of unobtainable technologies. The folks that sold the idea to the government budget people led them to believe that each of these technologies only needed a little more time, just a little more money thrown at it, before they would all be ready and work together.

Well, they didn't. It sucked and should have gotten the boot a hell of a lot sooner. Instead it sat around eating up money that could have been spent on projects with real world potential. Tragic.

The simple fact is that we, the humans of Earth, simply lack the technology required for single-stage-to-orbit. Anyone who tells you otherwise is blowing smoke in your ear.

Oh, and the Soviet Rocket worth attention is the Energia. It is the largest rocket in the world and is capable of getting enough mass far enough out to put a man on Mars, if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, the trip would be made with minimal shielding against radiation and there would be no provision for a return.