Posted on 03/05/2006 7:23:35 PM PST by anymouse
Ha! Thanks. Your above comments were good for a laugh (and not much else).
Do you not even realize that American *civilians* are using Two Stage To Space?!
Here's Rutan's SpaceShip One going sub-orbital. Heaven forbid our military do more.
So that's where Professor X got his plane! It was government surplus! :-)
> Do you not even realize that American *civilians* are using Two Stage To Space?!
> Here's Rutan's SpaceShip One going sub-orbital.
I'm well aware of SpaceShip One, thank you. I don't have to swipe photos of it off the Internet. I was standing right there, with a group of USAF test pilots, when it flew.
I also know SpaceShip One was not a capsule, and I know why it was not a capsule -- a configuration Burt Rutan considered and rejected -- because I've heard it from the man itself.
I don't rely on what I read in the funny papers.
> Heaven forbid our military do more
Just because civilians are doing something doesn't mean the military is doing more.
During the 1930's, civilian racing planes were over 100 mph than the best US military fighters. The battleship admirals and cavalry generals saw no use for aviation beyond spotter planes. Today, we're in the same situation. The carrier admirals and F-22 generals see no use for space, beyond recon satellites.
Space is still waiting for its Billy Mitchell -- UFO reports notwithstanding.
> No SR ever went down while overflying the other side and it was airborne over the USSR
> and China at our governments whim.
Direct overflights of the USSR were banned after Gary Powers's U-2 was shot down. The SR-71 didn't need to directly overfly a country. With its operating altitude, it could fly along the border and look sideways.
> Most things about the SR have never been declassified.
> Top speed.
> Total Range.
> Top altitude.
Actually, the entire pilots manual is declassified (minus a few sections describing sensor systems).
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