Quote:
Originally Posted by Normy
I suspect that there was another reason to produce the space shuttle
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OK, just a thought, and numbers out of thin air.
option 1
Cost to engineer the shuttle -- 5 bn
Cost to build shuttle (need 3 at any one time) -- 2 bn each
cost to launch shuttle -- .5 bn
Cost to take up 3 payloads and run lots of experiments using people (3 launches) including building and engineering.
$12.5 bn
option 2
cost to engineer passenger only space plane -- 5 bn
cost to engineer primarily cargo space plane (still gotta have dudes to deploy) -- 5 bn
cost to build each kind (need 3 of each ,6 total, of each kind) -- 2 bn each
cost to launch each -- .5 bn
Cost to launch 3 sets of payload and have lots of folks in the (thin) air for experiments including engineering, building and launch costs
$25 bn
I'm not an accountant or anything, but I think we've found your reason, and it doesn't require a foil hat.
We have satellites for the "spook" stuff, and it's not like the shuttle actually flies. It's not going to circle the Soviet Union taking pictures or shoot down soviet satellites. Again, we've got satellites for that. The wings are more about a controlled descent. It still pretty much drops like a rock. It's just not as big a conspiracy as you're hoping for.