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Also, both Saturn V and the Space Shuttle were dual-purpose programs - they had military goals on top of the scientific ones.
by aredox 1y ago
Also, both Saturn V and the Space Shuttle were dual-purpose programs - they had military goals on top of the scientific ones.
- blkhawk 1y agoWell the military purpose was why the Shuttle was so crappy. The original design was smaller and meant to sit on top of its rocket. This would have probably prevented loss of crew in both of the instances where shuttle failed.
- panick21_ 1y agoEventually Starship will also be bid for military programs. And Saturn V never had a military mission, neither had Shuttle.
- TheOtherHobbes 1y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Department_of_Defense_Space_Shuttle_missions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Department_of_Defense...
- m4rtink 1y agoShuttle regularly launched spy sats and was designed to grab an enemy one in a single orbit mission. Also Soviets believed it would nuke Moscow by sudden plane change via its wings & build their own version as a result. That sounds military enough for me.
- dotancohen 1y agoThe bombing of the Soviet Union was to happen via polar launch. The wings were there not for plane change, rather for cross range landing after the single orbit polar mission.
- m4rtink 1y agoInteresting - I was never sure about the exact mechanism m, just that the orbital speed & lift provided by wings were part of it. :)
- dotancohen 1y agoThe Space Shuttle never had a combat mission, in the sense that it was never used to drop bombs via polar orbit over the Soviet Union. But of course it had tens of military missions, the Shuttle launched many department of defense satellites.