Shuttle variants that never flew (ET based telescopes and more)

[Lars-J]

[My apologies if this is a re-post, I misread the date and thought it was new]

The youtuber Scott Manley (who mostly does space news/history and KSP) posted this neat video with Shuttle derivatives that never flew:



Here is the tweet from the video, and Wayne Hale's response:

https://twitter.com/DJSnM/status/1196947203568177153

https://twitter.com/waynehale/status/1196966579906461696

Scott Manley
@DJSnM
From an alternate history - using the Shuttle's external tank with a payload fairing, and constructing a 7 meter space telescope

Wayne Hale
@waynehale
Would have made RTLS Abort impossible and thus violated the principle of being able to safely return the orbiter and crew following a premature shutdown of an SSME early in flight.