GIGANTIC Aviation Week story, Pentagon has been flying 2-stage orbital spaceplane throughout 1990s |
GIGANTIC Aviation Week story, Pentagon has been flying 2-stage orbital spaceplane throughout 1990s |
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 6 2006, 02:24 AM
Post
#1
|
Guests |
It may even have been manned:
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/chan...ws/030606p1.xml My God, what a story -- if it's even partially true. And, judging from this article, they are absolutely certain they have proof (along with proof that the thing, although it works, has recently been mothballed as not cost-effective). It's important to keep in mind, though, that this thing is NOT a workable prototype of the originally planned 2-stage winged Space Shuttle. The second stage -- the spaceplane that actually achieved orbit -- was relatively small and probably very inefficient as a cargo carrier; its advantage lay in allowing the US to get a military reconaissance (or weapons) satellite into orbit surreptitiously, with no advance warning of the launch going to other countries. Even at that, as I say, AW reports that the thing has been recently canned as not worth its (doubtless huge) black-budget expense. |
|
|
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 8 2006, 01:26 AM
Post
#2
|
Guests |
According to the article, not even the nation's "top military space commanders" knew about Blackstar -- the implication is that only the NSA and (maybe) the President and the Men In Black knew about it. Come to think of it, that's another reason to doubt the story; but if it was true, then certainly NASA wouldn't have known about it -- and the NSA or whoever would have been unlikely to catch any word from NASA that they might have need of such a capability unless NASA actually had taken the foam problem very seriously.
What strikes me about the whole Columbia story is what a cruel twist of fate it was that it happened to one of the few remaining Shuttle missions that wasn't supposed to visit the ISS. If it had, that hole in the wing would certainly have been seen, and -- with some judicious juggling and hastily increased funding of the Russian space agency -- we would probably have gotten everyone down safely (while still losing the Shuttle). |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 23rd September 2024 - 03:15 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |