The MAKS launch system was only a part of the overall MAKS project. There are numerous unmanned cargo carriers designed for the MAKS platform, designed for heavy lift low earth orbit satellites and much smaller geosynchronous payloads. It also included a MAKS orbiter. The orbiter itself was designed to be a more versatile alternative to the Buran, which is a mirror image of the U.S. Shuttle. The obiter in fact looks like the shuttle, complete with delta wings, a manned cockpit, a cargo bay, and a robotic arm. Its smaller size allows for more orbital maneuverability, and its 7 ton payload is more than sufficient for many applications. It was designed for use with the Mir and Mir 2 space stations as both a logistics resupply and crew rotation vehicle. The docking module, like the one on the U.S. Shuttle, can attach to both a space station above it and a pressurized module in the payload bay at the same time. When in this configuration, the MAKS orbiter could carry up to 6 astronauts in addition to the 2 in the cockpit.

    As promising as the MAKS orbiter is, it was designed to fulfill many different missions, increasing its weight to more than the RD-701 engines could carry to the International Space Station, which is approximately 250 miles up compared to the 125 the orbiter was originally designed for. An orbiter designed solely to transfer crew would be lighter, allowing the same RD-701 engine used on MAKS to send it to ISS. The MAKS orbiter could be retrofitted to meet the mass requirements, but as there is no physical MAKS orbiter, only schematics, it is better to start with a new vehicle.

    The X-38 is a test vehicle designed to serve as a lifeboat for the International Space Station, allowing its crew to evacuate and return to earth in the event of an emergency. Since I originally stated my vehicle design would ferry crew back and forth from ISS but also be permanently docked to the station so it can serve as such a lifeboat, it seemed to be a logical place to start for my orbiter. The X-38 is a remarkable vehicle, using modern computers and GPS transceivers to automatically navigate itself to nearly any landing point on the planet. While in orbit, the computers constantly calculate trajectories for emergency evacuations, so when the time comes all the crew has to do is seal the hatch, hit a button, and they are on their way home. The X-38 is also designed to remain docked to the ISS indefinitely, without its consumables and propellants expiring as they do on the existing Soyuz lifeboat.

    The X-38 was designed to be launched on top of an expendable rocket or carried within the Shuttle's payload bay. In turn, the airframe of the X-38 literally has no place for the large RD-701 engine. As promising as the X-38 is, it was designed to go from space to earth under its own power, and not the other way around. So, a new airframe is needed for my orbiter, although the X-38's individual subsystems match up with the Crew Transfer Vehicle requirements to such an extent that they should be kept in the final configuration.

    Another test vehicle, the X-33, was designed before the X-38, although for a very different mission objective. The X-33 was a smaller version of the Venture Star, an unmanned, single stage to orbit, heavy lift vehicle designed carry more payload than the Shuttle. The X-33 and the Venture Star carried their fuel internally, not resorting to an expendable fuel tank like the Shuttle and MAKS do. They also relied on a revolutionary type of rocket engine, one that has since proven to be impossible with today's technology. Its reentry and aerodynamic characteristics are well documented and realistic, and in turn the X-33's airframe is a perfect configuration for my orbiter.

    The X-33 airframe, with X-38 subsystems and the RD-701 engine provide an optimal configuration for my orbiter. The X-33 was designed as low maintenance reusable spacecraft, a direct improvement over the Shuttle's high maintenance requirements. The X-38 subsystems and its associated automation and reliability are perfect for emergency reentry scenarios, and these characteristics are just as easily applied to the launch phase. The RD-701 engine is designed for at least 15 reuses, with its scaled version having completed over fifty burns, nearly eight minutes in duration each, with negligible maintenance. Coupled with Space Launch Initiative technologies in vehicle and engine health monitoring, this orbiter configuration should prove to be a reliable, versatile, and most importantly safe vehicle if ever implemented.