| astronautix.com | Hawker Siddeley Waverider-1960 |
An ambitious Blue Streak / Waverider design study was conducted by Hawker Siddeley Aviation in the 1960's. The project was led by Peter A E Stewart, Astronautics Section, Advanced Projects Group. The waverider spaceplane was to be mated to the top of a liquid hydrogen / liquid oxygen second stage, which was in turn mated to an enhanced (!), winged, 8 engined Blue Streak Rocket. Use of a nuclear upper stage, it was claimed, would permit a British manned lunar landing by 1970....