Re: NASA Unveils New Rocket
First launch of this STS booster, without
an upperstage, will supposedly take place by Dec/2017, a little over 50 years since the first (successful) Saturn 5 launch.
Thing is, the Saturn 5 had 7.5 million Ibs of thrust at liftoff and could park over 100 metric tons in orbit.
This STS will generate 8.2 million Ibs of thrust at liftoff, and YET will only be able to park 70 metric tons in orbit.
That doesn't sound like progress to me.