Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to I question their thinking

Horizontal integration has some advantages
Larry J — (archived)

Horizontal integration refers to assembling the Shuttle stack, not to fueling. The Soviets/Russians have used horizontal integration since the beginning. According to some sources, this makes it a lot easier to service their vehicles. They're then rolled out to the launch site horizontally, erected, fueled, and launched. For example, the Zenit booster can be rolled out to the pad, fueled, and launched in 21 hours.

They used this technique even on their biggest systems like the Energia-Buran. This page shows the Buran on top of an Energia booster inside the service facility. It sure looks like it'd be easier to work on things this way than vertically. This page shows a picture of the Buran being rolled out to the launch pad.

The idea seems to be spreading. Boeing is using horizontal integration for the Delta IV booster. It wouldn't surprise me that NASA uses vertical integration on the Shuttle because they had the Vehicle Assembly Building left over from the Apollo project.

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