Right. People don't always get the idea of the size of the Space Shuttle. Imagine an ordinary noisy, stinky diesel city bus full of passengers. Imagine a pile of eight city buses on top of a rocket about to be launched. Gives new meaning to the word launched. Rutan will launch a taxi.
yeah I think a KH-12-type spy bird is about the size of a city bus or so ... at least in weight ... and then there's the problem of retrieving a dead or crippled bird ... only the shuttle can do that (and only in near-Earth orbit) ... DSP's, and listening birds are out of luck if they break ... I think the max altitude on the Shuttle is 500 or maybe 650 miles ...