On Dec 31, 12:36*am, wrote:
On Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:44:40 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:



wrote

I have never been a shuttle fan but it did have a mission you can't do
with any other platform, capture a satellite and bring it back.
Since there were quite a few classified military missions, we don't
know how many times they used that capability.

Dang, g. *I never thought of that scenario. *Sure would **** off a satellite
owner, wouldn't it? *Aren't there any international laws pertaining to this?

Steve

The supposition is it would be one nobody was supposed to know about,
ours or theirs.
The reality is they did bring the Hubble into the cargo bay and fix
it. That may have been the most useful thing the Shuttle ever did.

Harry is right that the shuttle had a 40% failure rate and it sucked
most of the money out of the NASA budget, stifling further rocket
development and putting us where we are today. (riding with the
Ruskies)

The Russians had a near identical device to the shuttle.
The project was cut when they realised it was too costly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_program