This document provides detailed notes outlining the McDonnell Aircraft Company's "Model 176" hypesonic glider, and describes how this technology could be used to produce a hypersonic glider for use in resupplying a Manned Orbiting Laboratory in the 1960's. It is a more rugged concept than the Space Shuttle, and could have begun flying over a decade earlier. Furthermore, and most importantly, this document describes heat-dissipation testing that would have completely eliminated the need for the ceramic tiles used on today's shuttle.

"The United States Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory fabricated a half-scale mock-up of the stage and one-half Model 176 configuration. Strap-on tanks provided propellants to about Mach 6 or 7 and then the mission continued on internal propellants. The intent was to provide the United States Air Force with an on-demand hypersonic aircraft that could reach any part of the earth in less than a half-hour and return to its launch base or any base within the Continental United States (CONUS).

In a 1964 brief, Rollie Quest of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, St. Louis, presented a fully reusable hypersonic glider, the so-called model 176, intended to be the crew delivery, crew return, crew rescue, and re-supply vehicle for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) crew. One vehicle was to be docked with the MOL at all times as an escape and rescue vehicle. It could accommodate up to 13 persons, and like BURAN all components were recoverable.

Given the space infrastructure of the 21st Century, it is important to recall that rescue and supply of the manned space facilities requires the ability to land in a major ground based facility at any time from any orbit and orbital location. The cross and down range needed to return to a base of choice also requires high aerodynamic performance, mainly dependent on high lift over drag ratios." - Prof. Paul Czysz

Related: Aurora & Beyond (PDF), Paul Czsyz Video Interview, Paul Czysz Audio Interview, AJAX and Magnetohydrodynamics, Hypersonic MHD Implementation, Hypersonic Technical Data, Russian AJAX Technical Analysis, Space - The Final Design Frontier, Model 176 Hypersonic Shuttle, Hypersonic Design Notes, 2025 and 2050 Military Aerospace Vehicles