Jay Honeck wrote:
I've always wondered why NASA abandoned this method of getting into space.
I've heard a couple of reasons:
1. X-15 technology was impractical to scale up for orbital flights. (This
seems strange, but I'm no rocket scientist!)

I'm not an expert in this area, but I believe it was a "horsepower
required" vs. "fuel efficiency" vs. "size of the gas tank" kind of trade
off. It was more efficent (in relative terms) to rocket out of earth's
gravity using disposable tanks. Of course, that was using 1960's
technology. That may not be the case, today.

--- Jay


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