> The original designs for the Space Shuttle had the booster (with wings!) return to the launch site, but the cost for two new crewed vehicles was too large, so they scaled it back to the compromised version.
Can you cite a source for this claim? My understanding is that the control algorithms for landing a rocket did not exist at the time of the space shuttle. The algorithms were invented in 2010s[1] and space shuttle operated from 1981-2011[2]
I'm not sure what you actually want a source for. The design I'm talking about had the booster as a giant winged and crewed spacecraft with a winged and crewed orbiter attached. That did not require computer control algorithms (although I question your claim about the algorithms not being invented until the 2010s--the Russian Buran shuttle did an uncrewed, automated mission in 1988).
The McDonnell Douglas DC-X first vertically landed in 1993 and had an autoland capability. NASA also soft-landed probes autonomously on the moon way back in the 60s with Surveyor, though they would have been way easier to control than a booster.
Can you cite a source for this claim? My understanding is that the control algorithms for landing a rocket did not exist at the time of the space shuttle. The algorithms were invented in 2010s[1] and space shuttle operated from 1981-2011[2]
[1] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6428631
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle
https://web.archive.org/web/20200531171908/https://history.n...
> The algorithms were invented in 2010s
The McDonnell Douglas DC-X first vertically landed in 1993 and had an autoland capability. NASA also soft-landed probes autonomously on the moon way back in the 60s with Surveyor, though they would have been way easier to control than a booster.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wv9n9Casp1o