Art by John Polgreen from “Space Pilots” by Willy Ley. Poughkeepsie: Guild Press, (1957)
A three-stage rocket ship – call it Geryon or the X-49 – will eventually be assembled. The large first stage will be put on top of a blast deflector – a yawning hole into which the rocket motors can discharge their exhaust blast. Then the second stage will be put on top of the first, and finally a delta-winged third stage will be placed on top of the second stage.
But first a two-stage ship will be tested, as shown in the illustration. Each stage has wings along with its own pilot and co-pilot. The pilot of the first stage, after the upper delta-winged stage has blasted away from it, will gradually put the rocket into level flight and keep it aloft until air resistance has killed off its high speed. He might even succeed in flying in an enormous circle so that his ship becomes subsonic again for landing.
“The piloted upper stage, in the meantime, has left the atmosphere along a tremendous arc, reaching a peak of 300 or 400 miles above sea level, and more than 2,500 miles from home base. Some 5,000 miles from home base the upper stage re-enters the atmosphere and lands at a base prepared in a suitable location. After this preparation the crew is ready for the three-stage ship, where the upper stage of the two-stage ship is the third stage.”
[Summarizing and Quoting from the text]
Art by John Polgreen from “Space Pilots” by Willy Ley. Poughkeepsie: Guild Press, (1957)
A three-stage rocket ship – call it Geryon or the X-49 – will eventually be assembled. The large first stage will be put on top of a blast deflector – a yawning hole into which the rocket motors can discharge their exhaust blast. Then the second stage will be put on top of the first, and finally a delta-winged third stage will be placed on top of the second stage.
But first a two-stage ship will be tested, as shown in the illustration. Each stage has wings along with its own pilot and co-pilot. The pilot of the first stage, after the upper delta-winged stage has blasted away from it, will gradually put the rocket into level flight and keep it aloft until air resistance has killed off its high speed. He might even succeed in flying in an enormous circle so that his ship becomes subsonic again for landing.
“The piloted upper stage, in the meantime, has left the atmosphere along a tremendous arc, reaching a peak of 300 or 400 miles above sea level, and more than 2,500 miles from home base. Some 5,000 miles from home base the upper stage re-enters the atmosphere and lands at a base prepared in a suitable location. After this preparation the crew is ready for the three-stage ship, where the upper stage of the two-stage ship is the third stage.”
[Summarizing and Quoting from the text]