[Spirochete]

Weird. We had lot of aircraft on-hand when the USAF was created., but we have no manned spacecraft of any kind and none in the pipeline. We depend on “friendly enemies” to send American astronauts into space.

[laplata]

but we have no manned spacecraft of any kind and none in the pipeline

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We don’t know what we actually have up there.

[JoSixChip]

have no manned spacecraft of any kind and none in the pipeline.

You might want to look-up "Orion Space Capsule"

[cgbg]

Weird. We had lot of aircraft on-hand when the USAF was created., but we have no manned spacecraft of any kind and none in the pipeline. We depend on “friendly enemies” to send American astronauts into space.

If you really believe that I have some swampland in Greenland to sell you. :-)

[DannyTN]

Why do they have to be manned? Manned craft require reentry periodically, which means more launches. Possibilities include:

• "The Laser"
• Anti-satelite space drones
• Anti-anti-satelite space drones
• various decoys
• Space to ground weapons
• Redundant GPS/Satelite systems
• space junk cleaning operations
• Satelite repair operations.

[treetopsandroofs]

FWIW...

The Air Force's Secret Space Shuttle Has Been In Space 636 Days With No Plans To Come Down Yet

[cgbg]

For your summer reading pleasure :-)

https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Reveal-Programs-Extraterrestrial-Alliances/dp/0982290284

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Why in the world would you name yourself after the bacteria that causes syphilis? I know my screen name is out there, but wow.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Oh I almost forgot... and Lyme Disease.

[Alberta's Child]

In an age of modern communications and advanced robotics, a manned space presence is actually less important now than ever before.

In fact, the "manned" aspect of space travel is the single biggest weakness of the whole process. Look at the space shuttle, for example. The elements of the shuttle that were needed to safely deliver humans into space and then bring them back safely made the whole thing so unwieldy and cumbersome that it ended up being a very expensive (and ultimately dangerous) boondoggle.

[messierhunter]

"We had lot of aircraft on-hand when the USAF was created., but we have no manned spacecraft of any kind and none in the pipeline."
I agree with the thrust of what you were saying, but we have not one, not two, but three manned orbital spacecraft currently in the pipeline. Orion, Dragon V2, and the CST-100. We have no shortage of manned vehicles in the pipeline, we have a lack of operational manned vehicles with all three of the aforementioned being behind schedule.

[Candor7]

we have no manned spacecraft of any kind and none in the pipeline.>>>>>>>>

Not so sure about that. The skunk works have been working hard.

https://www.space.com/40227-x-37b-space-plane-200-days-in-orbit-otv5.html

[Eleutheria5]

Re-invigorate Shuttle program.