Philip Bono (13 January 1921 – 23 May 1993) was a

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

engineer. He was a pioneer of reusable vertical landing

single-stage to orbit A single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body using only propellants and fluids and without expending tanks, engines, or other major hardware. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

s. As a visionary designer, he is credited with inventing the first version of a recoverable single-stage spacecraft booster, and his contributions influenced spacecraft design. Bono pursued single-stage space launch as simpler and cheaper. He realized to do this he would need to use high

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust. For engines whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse i ...

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33 K. However, for it to be in a fully li ...

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

rocket engine A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accordanc ...

s. Afterwards he proposed to make these vehicles reusable. From his ROOST design onwards Bono advocated space launch vehicles without wings, usually using rocket assisted vertical takeoff and landing (

VTVL Vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. The most widely known and commercially successful VTVL rocket is SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage. VTVL technologies were deve ...

). According to his estimates, wings consisted mostly of dead weight that decreased launch payload mass. He patented a reusable

plug nozzle The plug nozzle is a type of nozzle which includes a centerbody or plug around which the working fluid flows. Plug nozzles have applications in aircraft, rockets, and numerous other fluid flow devices. Hoses Common garden hose trigger nozzles ar ...

rocket engine which had dual use as a heat shield for

atmospheric reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

. His early 1960s concepts influenced later designs like the 1990s

Delta Clipper The DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an uncrewed prototype of a reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense's Strategic ...

, also from Douglas.

Birth, education and career

Philip Bono was born in Brooklyn, New York on 13 January 1921. He graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in 1947 with a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, Bono worked as a research and systems analyst for

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

. Bono began working for Douglas Aircraft company in 1960. After the merger of

McDonnell Aircraft The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom I ...

and the Douglas Aircraft Company, he worked for

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

Astronautics from 1966 until 1988. Philip Bono died on 23 May 1993 at the age of 72. He was a resident of Costa Mesa, California at the time of his death.Hernandez, Greg. "Philip Bono, Reusable Rocket Booster's Designer, Dies at 72." Los Angeles Times. 27 May 1993

Retrieved 2010-02-23. Less than three months after Bono's death, the first launch vehicle based on his designs, the

McDonnell Douglas DC-X The DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an uncrewed prototype of a reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense's Strategic ...

(Delta Clipper) began a largely successful series of test flights. The DC-X was a vertical-takeoff and vertical landing vehicle. The series of test flights began on 18 August 1993 and continued until the upgraded version of the launch vehicle (renamed the DC-XA) tipped over on landing on July 31, 1996. Among Bono's visionary designs was a 1960 Boeing design for a crewed Mars spacecraft capable of carrying eight.

Designs

* One Stage Orbital Space Truck (OOST) * Recoverable One Stage Orbital Space Truck (ROOST) * Reusable Orbital Module, Booster, and Utility Shuttle (

ROMBUS A rhombus is a geometric shape often colloquially described as a diamond. Rhombus may also refer to: __NOTOC__ Music * Rhombus (band), a roots reggae band from New Zealand * Rhombus (UK band), British gothic rock band *Bullroarer, a musical instru ...

) * Ithacus * Pegasus * Hyperion * SASSTO SASSTO
* Mars Glider Hyperion was HTVL, the others VTVL.

Bibliography

Patents

US Patent D201773
''Recoverable Single Stage Spacecraft Booster'', July 27, 1965
US Patent 3295790
''Recoverable Single Stage Spacecraft Booster'', January 3, 1967

References

External links

Philip Bono Collection
Flickr, San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Bono, Philip 1921 births 1993 deaths American aerospace engineers Single-stage-to-orbit 20th-century American engineers