[Normy]

I've never understood why they built the space shuttle to begin with.

They needed a re-useable space plane to take astronauts to orbit. OK, that's a good idea- a craft that can be shot into space, deliver its occupants, re-enter the atmosphere.....and then land on a runway like any other aircraft. Good idea!

-So why, when they needed the equivalent to a Lear-Jet....did they build a DC-9?

The cargo capacity of this vehicle is large, but no where near as large as what a Titan IV rocket can put into orbit. And this 200,000 pound vehicle to put upwards of 9 people in space? A true space plane would be 25% that weight, tops. And if you have cargo only, then the shuttle won't work- it has to have people on board, and suddenly you run the risk of killing them, which as we've seen causes years of delay while the problems that led to their deaths are solved. It looks to me like you want to keep human bodies off of space flights as much as possible, and that means keeping them completely away from cargo flights.

Folks, something doesn't add up; I suspect that there was another reason to produce the space shuttle, one that has since gone away, and that is the reason that NASA and the US Government haven't built replacement shuttles.

That other reason? You decide, but personally...I think there was some sort of secret military use to the shuttle that the fall of the Soviet Union made a moot point of. There was some reason that they needed a big truck to get to space instead of the equivalent of a Ford Crown Victoria-

N!