[FreedomCalls]

There were plans for a Shuttle launch facility at Vandenberg for the sole purpose of launching and servicing military polar payloads that were abandoned after the Challenger disaster.

That's what I said. It was a political decision not to support those classified missions anymore.

It would be a physical impossibility for the Space Shuttle to get anywhere NEAR this satellite because you can't launch into polar orbits from the KSC.

That's correct. But if NASA had not chosed to be PC and not support those classified military missions, that launch complex would be operational and the shuttle would be able to repair this satellite by launching from there. That's what it was designed for. The shuttle's payload bay was enlarged during the design phase to allow for the recovery of such satellites. Were it not for NASA's decision to no longer support classified military missions, they would be able to repair this satellite -- just like I said.

[Strategerist]

That's what I said. It was a political decision not to support those classified missions anymore.

Which occured in the REAGAN adminstration, though people have gone so kooknut-batty in attempting to blame Clinton for every evil on the planet whether he had anything to do with it or not I don't know why I bother to point that out.

And the decision to abandon Vandenberg had nothing to do with political correctness. The Shuttle program would never have been able to meet the needed scheduled launches of the military anyway.