Could The Shuttle Be Launched On TOP Of A Rocket

NASA's cancelled Ares V is based upon the shuttle's external tank, but is a top-mounted launcher instead of a side-mounted launcher. So, what if NASA builds the shuttle in the 70s WITHOUT engines in the orbiter, instead putting the engines at the bottom of what in OTL would become the exterThis has at least two benefits I can think of: no risk of falling debris from the external tank hitting the shuttle and cuasing a Columbia-like disaster on reentry; and in-line proposulsion. Could this be done?
 
That was actually what Congress wanted back in 1971; a small crew-only boost-glide Shuttle launched on an uprated Titan III (similar to the eventual Titan IV). NASA wanted a small-payload (less than 10 tonne) fully-reusable, two-stage Shuttle. And the USAF (working for NRO) wanted one with a whooping 25 tonnes of cargo and huge cross-range (allowing recovery anywhere in the CONUS). The USAF/NRO eventually won out, and the Shuttle we know was born.

To get a boost-glide Shuttle, one scenario would be to have Thomas O. Paine really push for a large post-Skylab space station, with Shuttle serving only as a crew ferry. If it were launched on a common vehicle with NRO's large payloads (which again means uprated Titan), there's a possibility USAF could go along with it. Shuttle in that case would be much more similar to OTL's HL-42/SNC Dreamchaser...
 
That was actually what Congress wanted back in 1971; a small crew-only boost-glide Shuttle launched on an uprated Titan III (similar to the eventual Titan IV). NASA wanted a small-payload (less than 10 tonne) fully-reusable, two-stage Shuttle. And the USAF (working for NRO) wanted one with a whooping 25 tonnes of cargo and huge cross-range (allowing recovery anywhere in the CONUS). The USAF/NRO eventually won out, and the Shuttle we know was born.

To get a boost-glide Shuttle, one scenario would be to have Thomas O. Paine really push for a large post-Skylab space station, with Shuttle serving only as a crew ferry. If it were launched on a common vehicle with NRO's large payloads (which again means uprated Titan), there's a possibility USAF could go along with it. Shuttle in that case would be much more similar to OTL's HL-42/SNC Dreamchaser...

I'm talking about the OTL shuttle being launched on top of a booster, actually...
 
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