Comment Re:The Orion is totally over designed .. (Score 1) 44
Buran was side-stacked just like shuttle. There are very important design considerations to putting something that big on top of a rocket stack, including the structure of the stages below have to be much heavier, the wing acts like a giant lever on the wrong end, etc.
No, that would NOT be much simpler and safer. There's a reason why every orbital space plane has been side-stacked (Shuttle, Buran, X-37).
Also: Buran had a total of what, 37 minutes of orbital flight, unmanned?