Picture at top left looks like one of the original 1960s proposals for the Space Shuttle. When money was no object, the Shuttle would fly to a very high altitude on a winged manned booster before lighting its own engines. The booster would come back to Earth and fly to a landing strip using jet engines. The orbiter would also have had jet engines so it wouldn’t have the same risky one chance at landing like the Shuttle glider.
This proposal was North American’s DC-3, but that orbiter had short, straight wings. So this might just be artistically interpretation.
The proposal died during budget cuts in 1971 and when the US Air Force came on board. They wanted a Shuttle that could carry much heavier loads than DC-3 and could return to a landing site after just one orbit. That meant going with a heavier orbiter with a delta wing; there was no money for the booster, so they went with a disposable external tank and solid rockets – and we ended up with the Shuttle.
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Picture at top left looks like one of the original 1960s proposals for the Space Shuttle. When money was no object, the Shuttle would fly to a very high altitude on a winged manned booster before lighting its own engines. The booster would come back to Earth and fly to a landing strip using jet engines. The orbiter would also have had jet engines so it wouldn’t have the same risky one chance at landing like the Shuttle glider.
This proposal was North American’s DC-3, but that orbiter had short, straight wings. So this might just be artistically interpretation.
The proposal died during budget cuts in 1971 and when the US Air Force came on board. They wanted a Shuttle that could carry much heavier loads than DC-3 and could return to a landing site after just one orbit. That meant going with a heavier orbiter with a delta wing; there was no money for the booster, so they went with a disposable external tank and solid rockets – and we ended up with the Shuttle.