Makes me mad enough to spit nails and s--t anvils.
STUPID design.
/johnny
They did have a design to use the external tanks to build a space station.
A camel designed by committee.
The shuttle was originally supposed to have a fully-reusable, winged first stage.
The fuel tank and solid boosters were supposed to be a cheaper alternative. Never mind that using roman-candle solid boosters on man-rated spacecraft was a no-no.
Well, they turned it into a widow-maker.