The another daytime, I accidentally detected that quintuplet times in the comments I had answered the question about the degree of success of the Space Bird syllabu. Such regularity of questions requires a full clause. In it I will try to suffice the questions:

What were the goals of the Place Shuttle?
What is the result?

The topic of reusable media is very twisting, so in this article I am specifically limited only to these issues.

What did you plan?

The idea of reusable ships has busy the minds of scientists and engineers in the United States government since the 50s. On the one hired man, it's a pity to smash the dumped waste steps on the ground. On the other hand, an setup combining the properties of an airplane and a spaceship will be in line with airplane philosophy, where reusability is natural. Individual projects were born: X-20 Dyna Soar , Recoverable Orbital Launch System(later Aerospaceplane). In the sixties, this rather invisible activenes continued in the shadow of the Gemini the Twins and Apollo programs. In 1965, two years before the Saturn-V flight, a subcommittee happening reusable carrier rocket technologies was created at the Coordinating Council for Aerospace Trading operations (in which the US Air Force and NASA participated). The result of this work was a document published in 1966, which stated the need to defeat serious difficulties, just a glittering prospective was promised for working in low Earth orbit. The Air Force and NASA had a different imaginativeness of the system and different requirements, therefore, instead of one project, the ideas of ships of different layouts and the degree of reusability were given. Later 1966, NASA began to flirt with creating an itinerary station. Such a send implied the need to deliver a overlarge amount of cargo into orbit, which, in turn, embossed the question of the cost of such delivery. In December 1968, a working party was created, which began to deal with the so-called Inherent Launch and Reentry Vehicle (ILRV) A report from this group was presented in July 1969 and argued that ILRV should be able-bodied to:

Supplying the orbital station
Launch and return satellites from orbit
Assign acceleration blocks and payload into orbit
Put fuel into orbit (for subsequent refueling of other devices)
Observe and repair satellites in compass
Conduct short manned missions

The report examined ternary classes of ships: a reusable embark "riding" on a one-clip launch fomite, a incomplete-cannonball along ship (the "half" of a stage is tanks or engines that are dumped in flight) and a two-stage ship, both of which are reclaimable.
In parallel, in February 1969, President Nixon created a working party whose project was to make up one's mind the direction of movement in blank exploration. The result of the work of this mathematical group was the recommendation to create a reusable ship that could:

Become a fundamental improvement in existing space technology in terms of cost and aren
Transporting people, cargo, fire, other ships, booster blocks, etc. to orbit like an plane is regular, cheap, a great deal a lot.
Be universal for compatibility with a wide mountain range of civil and military payloads.

Initially, engineers moved in the direction of a two-stage fully reusable organization: a voluminous winged manned send carried a elfin brachypterous manned ship that was already in orbit:

This combination was theoretically the cheapest to go. However, the essential of a large payload made the system too large (and therefore expensive). In addition, the military wanted the possibility of a horizontal maneuver of 3,000 km for landing place at the launch site at the first turn from the polar aren , which limited engineering decisions (for example, straight wings became impracticable).

Judging by the signature "high cross-range" (large naiant tactical maneuver), the military liked this picture. The

final layout depended very much on the following requirements:

Cargo compartment size of it and capacitance
Horizontal maneuver
Engines (type, traction and other parameters)
Landing method (on engines or planning)
Materials used

A a result, at the hearings in the Clean House and Congress the final requirements were adopted:

Cargo Compartment 4.5 x 18.2 m (15 x 60 ft)
30 tons to low Earth orbit, 18 piles to polar orbit
Possibility of horizontal maneuver for 2000 km

In the 1970 area, it sour out that there would not be sufficiency money for the orbital post and the birdie at the same time. And the station for which the shuttle was supposed to carry goods was canceled.
At the same time, an unrestrained optimism reigned in the engineering environment. Based on the experience of operating experimental rocket aircraft ( X-15 ), engineers foreseen a reducing in the cost of a kilogram per scope by two orders of magnitude (hundredfold). At the Space Bird Symposium in October 1969, the shuttle "father" George Muller said:

"Our goal is to reduce the cost of a kilogram into orbit from $ 2000 for Saturn-V to the level of $ 40-100 per kilogram. This will usher in a radical era of distance exploration. The challenge for the coming weeks and months for this symposium, for the Air Military force and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is to ensure that we posterior do this. "

B.E. The line in the fourth of "Missiles and People" gives somewhat different numbers, but of the same order:

For various options based on the Space Birdie, it was foretold that the launch cost would be between $ 90 and $ 330 per kilogram. Furthermore, information technology was assumed that the Blank Shuttle of the second generation will reduce these figures to 33-66 dollars per kg.

According to Mueller's calculations, the launch of the birdie should cost $ 1-2.5 million (compare with $ 185 trillion for Saturn-V).
Quite serious economic calculations were also carried out, which showed that in club to at least equal the monetary value of the "Titan-Cardinal" launch fomite with direct toll compare without discount, the shuttle needs to start 28 times a year. For fiscal 1971, President Nixon allocated $ 125 million for the product of liquid launch vehicles, which amounted to 3.7% of NASA's budget. That is, if the shuttlecock was already in 1971, then it would save only 3.7 percent of the NASA budget. Nuclear physicist Ralph Lapp calculated that for the historical period 1964-1971 the shuttle, if information technology had already, would save 2.9% of the budget. Course, such numbers could not protect the shuttle, and NASA stood on the slipping cut across of the numbers game: "if an orbital station were assembled, and if IT needed a supply mission every fortnight, then the shuttles would save a billion dollars a twelvemonth." The idea was also advanced "with such launch capabilities, payloads will get over cheaper, and there will be more like a sho, which will farther increase nest egg."

Economic calculations. Delight note that if you murder the "new satellites" (the lower third of the table), and then the shuttles get on economically disadvantageous.

Worldly calculations. We pay to a greater extent straightaway (left side) and win in the future (precise shaded disunite).

In parallel, complex semipolitical games took place with the participation of potential manufacturers, the Air Force, the government and NASA. For example, NASA lost the battle for the first-stage accelerators to the Office of Management and Budget of the Executive Spot of the Chair of the United States. NASA wanted rocket salad accelerators, but because the solid rocket accelerators were cheaper to develop, the latter were chosen. The Air Force, which sought military manned programs with the X-20 and Mole, actually received the shuttle armed forces missions for free in interchange for sentiment support from NASA. Shuttle production was deliberately spread crossways the nation between incompatible companies for economic and political effect.
Every bit a result of these complex maneuvers, a contract for the growth of the Space Shuttle system was gestural in the summer of 1972. The chronicle of product and operation is beyond the scope of this article.

What did you get?

Now that the program is realised, information technology is possible to tell with sufficient accuracy which goals were achieved and which were not.

Goals Achieved :

Cargo delivery of various types (satellites, upper stages, ISS segments).
Ability to repair satellites in low Earth orbit.
The ability to return satellites to Earth.
The power to ship in flight functioning to eight the great unwashe.
Reusability implemented.
A fundamentally newborn space vehicle layout has been enforced.
Hypothesis of horizontal maneuver.
Large cargo concord.
The toll and development time were within the deadlines promised to President Nixon in 1971.

Not achieved goals and failures :

Qualitative facilitation of access to space. Instead of lowering the price per kilogram by two orders of magnitude, the Space Shuttle has become one of the most high-ticket means of delivering satellites into orbit.
Fast shuttle preparation between flights. Instead of the expected period of two weeks between flights, the shuttles were preparing for launch for months. Before the Contender gate-crash, the record 'tween flights was 54 days, after the Competitor - 88 days. For all years of operation of the shuttles, they were launched on average 4.5 times a year instead of the minimum allowable by calculations 28 multiplication a class.
Ease of maintenance. The selected technical solutions were rattling labor intensive to maintain. The principal engines required dismantlement and a lot of time for service. The turbopump units of the engines of the first model mandatory a gross overhaul and animate after each flight. Thermal protection tiles were unique - each roofing tile had its own roofing tile. There are 35,000 tiles in total, and besides, they can Be disoriented operating theater damaged in flight.
Replace all disposable media. Shuttles never launched into polar orbits, which is needed mainly for reconnaissance mission satellites. Propaedeutic workplace was underway, only they were stopped up after the Challenger disaster.
Reliable access to space. Four orbiters meant that the crash of the shuttle was the departure of a quarter of the fleet. Afterward the ram, flights ceased for days. Also, the shuttles were notorious for the constant transfer of launches.
The shuttle's carrying capacitance was five tons below the specifications required (24.4 instead of 30)
Great opportunities for horizontal maneuver were never utilized actually due to the fact that the shuttle did not pilot into polar orbits.
The return of satellites from orbit ceased in 1996. Only five satellites were returned from orbit.
Satellite indemnify was also poorly in need. In total, five satellites were repaired (although Hubble was serviced cinque multiplication).
The engineering decisions taken adversely affected the reliability of the system. Connected train-off and landing at that place were sections with no accidental of redemptive the crew in an chance event. Because of this, the Challenger died. The STS-9 mission almost ended in calamity ascribable a give notice in the tail that had already occurred on the strip. If this fire happened a little earlier, the shuttle would have unchaste without a risk of saving the gang.
The fact that the shuttle always flew manned put option people at risk unnecessarily - automation was enough for the function launch of satellites.
Due to the insufficient intensity of operation, shuttles are outdated morally than physically. In 2011, the Space Shuttle was a really rare example of operating the 80386 central processor. Fluid media could be upgraded bit by bit with new serial.
The closure of the Space Birdie program was bedded on the cancellation of the Constellation program, which led to the loss of fencesitter access to space for many years, epitome losses and the need to buy blank space on spaceships of another state.
New control systems and nadkaliberny fairings allowed to launch mammoth satellites on disposable missiles.
The shuttle holds a sad anti-record among space systems in the number of exanimate people.

The Blank space Birdie program has given the United States unique opportunities to work in space, only from the channelis of view of the difference "what they wanted, what they got", we have to conclude that it did not achieve its goals.

Why did this materialise?

I specially emphasize that in this paragraph I utter my thoughts, perhaps some of them are incorrect.

The shuttles were the final result of some compromises betwixt the interests of several oversize organizations. Perchance if there was one person or a team of like-minded people World Health Organization had a clear vision of the system, it could turn down to make up more fortunate.
The necessary to "be everything for everyone" and replace all spendable rockets increased the cost and complexness of the system. Universality when compounding dissimilar requirements leads to complication, appreciation, excessive functionality and worsened efficiency than specialization. IT's easy to add an alarm time to your mobile call up - you already have a speaker, a clock, buttons and electronic components. But a flying submarine will be more expensive and worsened than specialized aircraft and submarines.
The complexness and cost of a arrangement grows exponentially with size. Perhaps a 5-10 short ton birdie payload (3-4 times to a lesser degree realized) would represent Sir Thomas More successful. They could give been built more, part of the fleet made pilotless, made a one and only-time module to increase the carrying capacity of rare heavier missions.
"Dizziness from success." The successful execution of trio programs of in turn increasing complexness could routine the heads of engineers and managers. As a matter of fact, that a manned first launch without unmanned examination, that the deficiency of crew rescue systems in the establish / launch sections argue some sureness.

Hey, what about Buran?

Anticipating the inevitable comparisons, you have to say a emotional nigh him. There are no mathematical operation statistics for many years for Buran. It turned impossible to be somewhat simpler with him - He was covered with the wreckage of the collapsed USSR, and it cannot be aforementioned if this computer program would be made. The showtime set out of this program - "make IT like the Americans" was completed, and what would happen next is unknown.
And for those wishing to arrange a holivar "What is best?" In the comments, I ask you to first give a definition of what is "better" in your opinion. Because some phrases "Buran has a larger margin of characteristic speed (delta-V) than the Space Shuttle" and "The Shuttle does not reset overpriced marching engines with a booster arrange" are accurate.

List of sources (excluding Wikipedia):

Irradiatio A. Williamson "Developing the Space Shuttle"
TA Heppenheimer "The Space Shuttle Decisiveness"
The cost of a kilo into orbit (somehow, the wiki was thrown out of a good prorogue)
Information about the satellites WHO repaired and returned the shuttles.
Thank you for the pictures . VK Encyclopedia of Military Aviation .

For sailing: posts on the tag "Facilitating access to space"