|
| I listened to a series of lectures on the Space Shuttle - downloaded from iTunes U. The Shuttle was initially proposed as a scientific program by NASA and the original design was about 1/4th the size it ended up being. Once the military learned about the program, they convinced someone that they wanted access design specs and ultimately, use of it - along with scientific missions. They are the ones that demanded the huge payload bay - which increased the size so much - and resulted in the external tank/SRB lift assist system. The ORIGINAL Shuttle would have been lifted by a plane and launched at a high altitude, fired its main engines with fuel stored on board, and would reach orbiting altitude.
Did we gain anything by it? Of course we did. Not all of it was scientific or technological. It very well could have led to our winning the cold war. I'm sure the Soviets knew from the start that the Shuttle program wasn't just for scientific missions. They even built their own almost exact copy of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ8eYXd-XZA&feature=player_embedded
http://gizmodo.com/5819166/russian-cosmonaut-our-shuttle-was-safer-... | |
|
30 years in space. Just what have we gained?
