Very hard to answer directly. That spacecraft could be reusable has many origins from Tsilokowski to Goddard, the Amerika Bomber to the DynaSoar. One can argue that the lifting body shapes of the X-planes were test articles for the later NASA program.
Most important is that under current propellants, at least 70% of the mass needed to achieve escape velocity is fuel. Second to that is re-usability and a big part of that is the velocity at reentry due to heating. Ballistic trajectories are high in thermodynamic values and different shapes, while more shallow angles allow for lower heating and more aerodynamic designs. Case in point, the Apollo heat shields were one off, hand injected phenolic while what became the space shuttle orbiter shields were silicon tiles for a lower temperature. This also meant that the orbiter would never reach beyond lower Earth orbits.
Several approaches were applied such as single stage to orbit (above mass ratio problem), a reusable booster stage that was recovered by flying back or as in reality solid rocket boosters recovered at sea, and the orbiter flying back to a runway. The cargo bay dimensions were laid down as the size of a railroad box literally. That required the size to be equivalent to a DC-8. Budget cuts under Nixon, Ford and Carter drove the rest.
The first space shuttle invented was the space shuttle enterprise.
Enterprise was the first space shuttle built, though it never made it into space.
The first space shuttle was built primarily in Palmdale, California at Rockwell's facility.
James Kay INvented the space shuttle.
Enterprise was the first space shuttle orbiter built but it was used only for flight tests and was not capable of going into space. Columbia was the first orbiter built which was space worthy and launched on STS-1
The first space shuttle invented was the space shuttle enterprise.
Enterprise was the first space shuttle built, though it never made it into space.
The first space shuttle was built primarily in Palmdale, California at Rockwell's facility.
James Kay INvented the space shuttle.
The first space shuttle, STA-099, was built in the late 1970s.
Space Shuttle Endeavour was the final Space Shuttle built. It was built to replace Space Shuttle Challenger.
Enterprise was the first space shuttle orbiter built but it was used only for flight tests and was not capable of going into space. Columbia was the first orbiter built which was space worthy and launched on STS-1
it was invented by many people
The Columbia shuttle was built first in April 12, 1981. The Columbia shuttle was built first in April 12, 1981.
James kay invented the space shuttle in 1888
James Kay
Although the space shuttle Enterprise was the first shuttle built and test flown, it never had a space flight. The first shuttle to be launched into space was the Columbia, it was first launched on 12 April 1981. Columbia was the first spaceworthy shuttle in NASA's fleet.