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>>the imagined mission never happened The X37s would like a word. Also, "Rods from God" has something to say https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https:/

>>the imagined mission never happened The X37s would like a word. Also, "Rods from God" has something to say https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https://endwar.fandom.com/wiki/Kinetic_Strike https://endwar.fandom.com/wiki/Kinetic_Strike --- Rods from god may be the source of "jewish space lasers" <-- the comment by a senator on how the wild-fires have been started in US and AU, meaning that a tungsten rod from space rained down molten tungsten to start fires... Fun stuff to speculate on.

simonh 5y ago
The mission being referred to was capturing a Russian satellite in a polar orbit in the cargo bay and returning it to earth. The shuttle also needed big wings to provide the cross-range capability it would need to complete one polar orbit and land at the original launch point (Vandenberg) despite the earth having rotated, moving the airbase by many hundreds of miles since takeoff. The original NASA spec had a smaller cargo bay and wings because it would have mainly been a crew ferry. As a result it would also have been launchable on top of a rocket instead of strapped to the side, giving better safety. Significant cargoes would have been launched independently.