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Two-stage-to-orbit Sukhanov flying disc configuration with cockpit capsule used for primary vehicle. via Bill Rose disc-shaped mothership would lift off under the power of its four liquid-fuel rocket engines, carrying a smaller disc-shaped spacecraft that was approximately half its diameter. Having reached Mach 5 and an altitude of about 175,000ft (53,000m), the spacecraft would be released from the mothership. It would then climb to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) under the power of four or five liquid-fuel rocket engines, having the ability to reach an altitude of 620 miles (1,000km). The mother- ship would return to base using auxiliary jet engines fora controlled runway landing while the spacecraft would make an unpowered glide back to base after completing its mis- sion. Several different disc-shaped designs were studied for the spacecraft, which all used a forward cabin area. Small reaction jets would provide manoeuvring capability in space and bomber. Sukhanov’s team were primarily responsible for this project, acting as consul- tants for Ilyushin. While the Americans intended to launch their saucer-shaped spacecraft and the delta-winged X-20 Dyna Soar spaceplane by means of liquid-fuel booster rockets, the Russians recognised the vulnerability of such a system to pre-emptive attack and selected a fully re-usable runway- launched two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane. The ble to build a sled-launched single-stage-to- orbit vehicle although, due to various techni- cal considerations, research was finally terminated in 1986. Below left: Two-stage-to-orbit Sukhanov flying disc configuration with cockpit capsule used for primary vehicle. via Bill Rose Sukhanov Spacecraft and Long-Range Flying Discs In the early 1960s the Soviet Union began work ona series of secret studies that broadly mirrored America’s saucer-shaped orbital Below: Sukhanov rocket-powered disc-shaped vehicle with single tailfin showing liquid fuel storage tanks. via Bill Rose Ou2.6 Pue.10 128 Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft