During the lifetime of the Space Shuttle, Rockwell International and many other organizations studied various Space Shuttle designs. These involved different ways of increasing cargo and crew capacity
HLLV
The Ares I launch vehicle would have used a Five-Segment SRB
The Super Guppy's "humpback" design
The Space Shuttle Enterprise unpowered test vehicle would have been the basis for the unpowered orbiter
Space Launch System
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The Space Launch System is an American two-stage super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. The primary launch vehicle for the Artemis program, SLS is designed to launch the four-person
SLS with the Orion spacecraft launching from Pad 39B for Artemis II
The SLS core stage rolling out of the Michoud Assembly Facility
SLS of Artemis II, with side view showing one of the two boosters
Test fire of BOLE prototype, June 2025