Starbooster

One of Buzz’s prime directives is to launch humanity into a new era of affordable access to space. In 1996 he put together a dedicated team of experienced rocket engineers and aerospace entrepreneurs to form the rocket design company, Starcraft Boosters, Inc. (SBI), and develop next-generation space launch systems that would reduce launch costs and build upon existing and emerging technologies.

The SBI team’s first initiative was to develop the “StarBooster” family of reusable flyback rocket boosters. A vertically launched two-stage-to-orbit system, the StarBooster design is essentially a hollow aircraft-type airframe into which a booster rocket propulsion module (such as a liquid-fueled Atlas V, Delta IV or Zenit) is inserted in order to launch a payload. Configured in a progressive series from the “200” (roughly the size of a Boeing 737) to heavier lift models up to the “1600” – each StarBooster launches an upper stage and payload under the firepower of the booster rocket housed within. After separating from the upper stage and payload, the StarBooster air-starts its own engines and flies the spent booster rocket contained inside back to the launch site to be reused for another launch.

The StarBooster approach facilitates major launch cost savings utilizing currently existing expendable rocket technology and effectively transforming such rockets into a reusable first stage booster launch system – with the added side effect of tripling the payload capacity. This StarBooster reusable first stage can then be matched with the SBI-designed StarBird or StarEagle reusable manned orbiters to result in a completely reusable space transportation system capable of sending an astronaut crew into Earth orbit, helping to launch missions back to the moon, or leading to the development of 100-seat airline capacity commercial tourism spaceflights. Overall, the StarBooster family is a worthy next-generation alternative to the fleet of expendable launch vehicles used by NASA today.

In response to NASA Langley Research Center’s interest in seeing a small scale flight demonstration of StarBooster, Cal Poly Space Systems (CPSS) undertook the StarBooster Project from 1999 to 2001 to perform proof of concept work. The effort culminated in multiple successful launches of 5-foot and 10-foot demonstration models of the StarBooster configuration. In 2002, SBI was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory. In 2003, a US patent was issued to Buzz Aldrin and Hu Davis for the StarBooster design of a flyback booster first stage launch vehicle with a removable rocket propulsion module.

Based in Houston, Texas, the SBI team includes Buzz’s long-time friend and colleague, Hubert Davis (a key NASA engineer and manager in charge of developing and testing systems for the Apollo spacecraft in the 1960’s-70’s) as VP of Engineering, Art Dula (aerospace and patent attorney) as VP of Legal, and Lt. General Dirk Jameson (USAF retired) as President and CEO.