04. What is the most suitable shape? What will the new space transports look like? Will they be like airplanes or rockets? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

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Engineers have a saying: "Put two engineers in a room and they will come up with three ways to do something." There are many, many ways to build a space transport, and most of them will in fact work. But some may be less risky than others, or less expensive to build or to operate. Currently, many engineers believe that ballistic space vehicles are in our near-future. These designs are like the capsules of Apollo and Gemini, built 40 years ago. Airplane-like space transports may again be built once we have a better understanding of reusable materials that protect a re-entering spaceship from heating.

Answer provided by David Gump & Gary Hudson

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer