And, as I recall, part of the agreements to fund the Space Shuttle to begin with came from the military and spy agencies: a better capability to launch and serv

And, as I recall, part of the agreements to fund the Space Shuttle to begin with came from the military and spy agencies: a better capability to launch and service spy satellites. When the Space Shuttle program began, they planned for hundreds of flights, around 50 per year. The shuttles were only designed to last 100 missions before retirement. We were supposed to get a new shuttle rotating into service every 4 or so years.