North American Rockwell Apollo CSM-based winged vehicle

[Triton]

Name: Aerospace Vehicle
Inventors: Barnett et al.
Patent number: 3576298
Filing date: Nov 13, 1967
Issue date: Apr 27, 1971
Assignee: North American Rockwell Corporation

North American Rockwell patented a proposal to turn the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) into something resembling a miniature space shuttle with a payload bay in the Service Module (SM), fins on the rear, retractable wings in the bottom of the SM, and X-15 style landing gear with a nose-wheel at the front of the SM and skids at the rear:

An aerospace vehicle comprising a substantially conical forward crew compartment or command module mated to a substantially cylindrical rearward service module. Aerodynamic fairings are provided along the midline on the sides of the cylindrical portion and a substantial distance aft thereof for providing lift at hypersonic velocities and approximately vertical fins are provided on the fairings for aerodynamic stability and control. Wings are mounted within the aerodynamic fairings at high velocities and pivotably extended therefrom at lower velocities and altitudes to provide low speed lift.

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