stack

[Mullins, Bill]

Stack (n)  -- an assembly of missile/rocket stages into a full space flight vehicle

The above defintion is a specific sense of "stack" that I think exists, but have never seen in a dictionary (and that may be just because I haven't looked in enough dictionaries . . . but it's not in the OED).

Some cites:
Test Firing of Shuttle Booster Put Off at Least Until Sunday by Kathy Sawyer The Washington Post; Aug 29, 1987; pg. A2, col 6.

"For the test, the booster is hooked to ground equipment that serves as a stand-in for the shuttle "stack" to which the booster normally would be linked."
MOON SHIP ORBITS, OVERCOMES SNAG By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD New York Times; Jan 23, 1968; pg. 1 [cite from jump on p. 10, col 3]

"The first manned operations involving the lunar module could come late this year.  The flight would include the full Apollo stack of vehicles -- the Saturn 5 rocket, the lunar module and the Apollo crew capsule."

U.S. MAY TAKE LEAD MARVIN MILES Los Angeles Times; Nov 6, 1967; pg. 3 [cite from jump on p.21, col 1]

"Developed by McDonnell Douglas Space Center at Huntington Beach, this stage is the baby of the Saturn 5 stack, 58 feet long, almost 22 feet in diameter and weighing 260,000 pounds when loaded -- as much as the entire Mercury/Atlas vehicle that first lofted American astronauts into orbit."



Conrad Pays High Tribute to Equipment Los Angeles Times; Nov 25, 1969; pg. 21 col 1.

"And the firm's Rocketdyne Division in Canoga Park produced all the major rocket engines in the towering Saturn 5 stack, plus most of the ascent rockey that launched Conrad and Bean off the moon in the top stage of the lunar module, Intrepid."



Astronauts' Lunar Car Proves Easy Operate By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD New York Times (1857-Current file); May 5, 1971; pg. 55 col 2.

"The whole Apollo 15 "stack" -- the Saturn 5 rocket, the landing module and the Apollo command and service modules -- is scheduled to be rolled out to the launching pad next Tuesday."



Solid Rocket Boosters Long Considered Reliable By Kevin Klose  The Washington Post eb 3, 1986; pg. A8 col 2.

"Unlike most solid fuel rockets, which are encased in a single strong steel casing, the SRBs are assembled in cylindrical sections that are piled atop each other and bolted together in a "stack" before launch."



Saving the Shuttle Beth Dickey Government Executive; May 1, 2004; 36, 7;  pg. 24 [cite from p. 25, col 3.]

"Today's shuttle "stack", in NASA vernacular, consists of a winged orbiter riding piggyback on a bullet-shaped fuel tank with two candlestick-style booster rockets at either side of the tank.  The orbiter is missing from blueprints for the future stack."