VentureStar
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VentureStar was Lockheed Martin's proposed design for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system. The program's primary goal was to develop a reusable unmanned space plane for launching satellites into orbit at about 1/10 the cost of other systems that would completely replace the space shuttle. While the requirement was for an unmanned launcher, it was expected to optionally carry passengers as cargo. In addition to a modular system, The VentureStar would provide rapid turnaround between launches. It would have also used a new metallic thermal protection system that would be safer and cheaper to maintain than the ceramic one on the Space Shuttle. It was to be a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that would take off vertically and land like an airplane. The design specifications called for the use of linear aerospike engines, which maintain their efficiency thrust at all altitudes. VentureStar was to be a commercial endeavor and flights would have been leased to NASA as needed.
Failures in the VentureStar's technology demonstrator, the X-33, led to program cancellation on March 1, 2001.
[edit] The VentureStar in Fiction
In John Varley's near-future science fiction novel, Red Thunder, the VentureStar is the main spacecraft in use by a United States of America, making daily flights into orbit from Cape Canaveral.
In the opening credits of Star Trek Enterprise, the VentureStar is seen veering away from the International Space Station's docking port.
In the movie Fortress II: Re-Entry starring Christopher Lambert, the VentureStar brings supplies to the orbiting prison station and is later hijacked by the prisoners to escape to earth.
In Star Venture, the 45th novel of Gold Eagle's Stony Man adventure series, the VentureStar (with the name split in two) is hijacked by the Chinese and used to deploy nuclear missiles in space.
