Magnum (rocket)

The Magnum was a large super-heavy-lift rocket designed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center during the mid-1990s. The Magnum, which never made it past the preliminary design phase, would have been a launcher some 96 meters (315 feet) tall, on the scale of the Saturn V and was originally designed to carry a human expedition to Mars. It was to have used two strap-on side boosters, similar to the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), but using liquid fuel instead. Some designs had the strap-on boosters using wings and jet engines, which would enable them to fly back to the launch area after they were jettisoned in flight.^[1] The Magnum was designed to carry around 80 tons of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).^[2]

NASA illustration of Magnum booster.

See also

• Shuttle-C
• Shuttle-derived vehicle
  • Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle presented 2009
• National Launch System, studied from 1991 to 1993
• Constellation program, developed from 2005 to 2009 - cancelled
• Space Launch System, developed and built from 2010 onwards
• Studied Space Shuttle Variations and Derivatives