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>The shuttle was kind of a solution in search of a problem; I don't think that's entirely fair. At the time, when it appeared space may become weaponized, it
by tw04 8y ago
>The shuttle was kind of a solution in search of a problem;
I don't think that's entirely fair. At the time, when it appeared space may become weaponized, it made a lot of sense. A craft that could potentially fly up to space, take someone else's satellite and bring it home? Worth the cost and then some many times over.
- rsynnott 8y ago> fly up to space, take someone else's satellite and bring it home (NB. Provided that it was in an accessible low earth orbit and that very simple countermeasures weren't used) I mean, realistically, putting a small bomb in each sensitive satellite would be enough to dissuade anyone from trying this, and most sensitive satellites wouldn't be in orbits that the shuttle could make anyway. The military applications always seemed like the most fantastical part of the concept.
- woodandsteel 8y ago>fly up to space, take someone else's satellite and bring it home Except the only country with satellites we would really want to do that to was the USSR, and how many SS launches would the US get to do if there was a nuclear war going on(with Cape Canaveral as one of the first targets)?