Magnum (rocket)

{{Short description|Proposed launch vehicle}}

{{more citations needed|date=July 2009}}

Image:Magnum Booster Rocket.jpg

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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160820172032/http://www.astronautix.com/m/magnumhllv.html Information about 6 variants of Magnum] The Magnum was designed to carry around 80 tons of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/nasa_mars_booster.html |title=NASA Draws Up Big Booster for Mars |publisher=Space.com |date=2000-03-10 |accessdate=2009-07-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523155812/http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/nasa_mars_booster.html |archivedate=May 23, 2009 }}