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ADVANTAGES OF SHUTTLES

  1. In principle, they are cheaper to operate, given a quick turn-around and enough flights per year.
  2. They can fetch as well as carry, bringing down large payloads from orbit for repairing or servicing.
  3. Shuttles land on runways like aircraft, simpler and safer than parachuting into the sea like older space capsules
  4. Shuttles are designed to be long-lasting and once were regarded as tough work horses, but since the Challenger they are recognised as fragile craft.

ADVANTAGES OF ROCKETS

  1. Less complex, because they only need to work once, not repeatedly.
  2. Much cheaper for launching small unmanned satellites, because, unlike the shuttles, they do not need all the equipment to support life in space.
  3. Familiar, proven technology which at present provides a better guarantee of getting a commercial satellite into orbit on time.
  4. Rockets are easier to launch. For example, Russians send up two rockets a week without elaborate preparations.

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Lists from "Space Shuttles, A New Era?", NIGEL HAWKES, Aladdin Books LTD, 1989