Douglas SASSTO (1967)

Scale: 1/72
Initial Release: 2023
Medium: Resin
Height: 11.25"
Kit Rarity: 2

About the Design

In the early 1960s, the rocketry team at Douglas Aircraft began to explore ways to launch spacecraft more cost effectively than with traditional throw-away boosters. One of the concepts developed by the group headed by chief designer Philip Bono involved adapting the company's second stage Saturn S-IVB booster into a reusable Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) vehicle that could send a two-man Gemini spacecraft into low orbit and then return under its own power. Key to the design was replacing the S-IVB's four traditional rocket engines with a single aerospike, which not only gave the craft greater stability but could function as its own heat shield during reentry. The Gemini spacecraft itself was to be protected during launch by an ejectable fairing to reduce drag during ascent.

Although the finished design actually bore little resemble to the S-IVB booster that inspired it, Bono still called his concept the Saturn Application Single-Stage-to-Orbit, or SASSTO, and formally submitted the plans for review in 1967. Like the other Douglas SSTO plans developed during the 1960s, the SASSTO never went beyond the planning stage as NASA's attention eventually turned to the multi-stage flyback concept that resulted in the U.S. Space Shuttle.

To see HazegrayArt's "What If?" video of the SASSTO in action, visit:
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfvG0v1LX6k&t=146s ​

About the Kit

The 1:72 Douglas SASSTO kit was produced exclusively for Fantastic Plastic Models by John Fleming. The kit included separate fairing that could be removed to display the Gemini capsule beneath.

This kit was built from an original issue.