Why You Can't Fly a Plane into Space

The Infographics Show

Historical Context and Current Aviation Limits

Four Forces: lift (upward), weight (downward), thrust (forward), drag (backward)
- Essential for flight but irrelevant in space without gravity/air resistance
Temperature Issues: re-entry generates extreme heat
- Space shuttles have protective shielding, planes don't
- Re-entry would "roast" passengers in conventional aircraft
Air Quality Problems: higher altitude = thinner air
- Too thin air prevents lift maintenance
- "Coffin corner" - point where plane can't speed up, slow down, or climb
- Only escape: controlled descent while gaining speed
Engine Limitations:
- Space requires ~7.2 million lbs thrust
- Boeing 747 generates only ~63,000 lbs thrust
- Airplane engines need air for combustion - cease functioning in space

October 14, 2004: empty 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200
Route: Little Rock, Arkansas → Minneapolis
Planned cruising: 33,000 ft
Pilots requested 41,000 ft (maximum for CRJ series) after 14 minutes
Both engines lost power due to sudden ascent to craft's limits
Crashed outside Jefferson City, both crew killed
NTSB cause: "unprofessional behavior, deviation from standard procedures, poor airmanship"
Only reached 12% of way to space

Four types successfully launched/re-entered/landed safely:
1. US Space Shuttle (1981-2011)
  - Components: orbiter vehicle, 3 rocket engines, 2 solid rocket boosters, expendable external tank
  - Launched vertically, boosters jettisoned before orbit
  - External tank jettisoned after main engine cutoff
  - Thermal protection for re-entry, runway landing
2. Russian Buran Program
  - Similar to Space Shuttle with key differences
  - Main engines didn't follow spacecraft to orbit
  - Small rocket engines on craft body for orbital propulsion
  - Fully automated landing capability, unmanned mission capable
3. US X-37B/Orbital Test Vehicle (first used 2010)
  - Reusable robotic craft carried by rocket-powered launch vehicle
  - Remains in orbit for exploration/research
  - Re-enters and glides back as space plane
4. Chinese CSSHQ/Reusable Experimental Spacecraft (first launch September 2020)
  - China's answer to space plane arms race
  - Operates similarly to other orbiting space planes

NASA X-15: July 19, 1963
- Pilot: Joseph A. Walker (WWII pilot, physicist, astronaut)
- Flight 90 reached 106.01 km altitude
- Crossed Carmen line into space
- 3-5 minutes weightlessness
- Exterior heated to 650°C during re-entry
- Total flight: 12 minutes launch to landing
SpaceShip One (2004)
- Part of $10 million Ansari X Prize competition
- Challenge: first private organization, 2 successful piloted flights with 2 passengers in 2 weeks, cross space boundary
- Launch system: White Knight hybrid rocket engine carried SS1 to 47,000 ft, then dropped
- Feather system: rear wing portion folded vertically before highest point to increase drag
- June 21, 2004: pilot Mike Melville passed space boundary by 150m
- Celebration: released chocolate into cabin during weightlessness
- Now displayed at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC

Boeing X-37B: only craft still frequently used today
Reaction Engines (British company):
- Founded by 3 engineers after 1989 British space plane project cancellation
- Skylon project: single stage to orbit space plane
- SABRE engine: Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine
  - Hydrogen-powered, uses Earth's atmospheric oxygen
  - Propels to hypersonic speeds before rocket mode
- Partners: Rolls-Royce, Boeing, British Aerospace
- CEO Mark Thomas (April 2023): likely two-stage system with reusable first stage, expendable/less reusable upper stage

First commercial flight: June 29, 2023
Passengers: instructor, 2 pilots, 2 Italian Air Force Colonels, aerospace engineer from Italy's National Research Council
Duration: 90 minutes suborbital ride
Activities: few minutes weightlessness, Italian flag unfurled, biometric data collection, liquid/solid mixing experiments
Safety concerns: 2014 SpaceShip 2 deadly crash, Virgin Orbit satellite launch failure
Pricing: ~$450,000 per seat
Sales: 800 tickets sold at time of first flight
Space for Humanity: nonprofit making space travel accessible through fundraising competitions

August 2023 tourist flight: Kesha Shaha (contest winner), daughter, former Olympian John Goodwin
Process:
- Unity space plane strapped to VMS Eve carrier jet wing
- Takeoff from 12,000 ft New Mexico desert runway at 11:00 AM
- Carrier jet reaches ~45,000 ft, releases Unity
- Unity's hybrid rocket motor ignites, reaches 3x speed of sound
- Motor shuts down, crew experiences weightlessness
- Maximum altitude: 54.9 miles
- Passengers float freely during descent
- Wings feather to increase drag, then return to normal for gliding landing

Sierra Space Dreamchaser:
- Winged commercial space plane for cargo/human transport
- Capacity: up to 7 people plus cargo
- Low Earth orbit operations
- Cargo version prioritized for ISS resupply
LIFE Habitat: Large Integrated Flexible Environment
- Launches via rocket, inflates in orbit
- Dimensions: 3 stories high, 27 ft diameter
- Capacity: 4-12 people
- Features: life support systems, multi-layer space shield, astro garden
- Ground prototype already built

Orbital Reef: mixed-use business park in space
- First commercially owned/operated space station
- Low Earth orbit location
- Uses: commerce, research, space tourism
- Includes LIFE habitat and Dreamchaser operations
- Target: reality by end of decade
- NASA Review: August 2022 system design review passed (mid-June to mid-July)
Other approved concepts:
- Starlab Station: continuously crewed commercial space station by Voyager
- Northrup Grumman: commercial space station concept
- Axiom Space: commercial modules for ISS, later independent commercial station
Timeline concerns: NASA safety advisers/Inspector General criticize short timeline, warn stations might not be ready by decade's end
Company response: representatives disagree, claim great progress
Orbital Reef timeline: first modules launch planned 2027

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