on the Soviets all over the planet with onboard optical and radar telescopes.
However, it was never launched, as the giant Key-Hole
10
spy satellites designed by
the Lockheed Corporation made the project redundant and too expensive. Both
these projects are largely unknown to public opinion.
When President Nixon commissioned NASA to develop the shuttle, he said:
It is now necessary to define new goals that make sense for the next decades.
We must build on the achievements of the past, but we must realize that
many problems on our planet require our attention and resources. In no way
we have to make our space program stagnate, but with the whole future and
the entire universe ahead of us, we don’t need to do everything at once. Our
bold approach to space exploration must continue but we also need balance...
we must realize that space activities will be part of our daily life, and we
must think about them as a continuous process, day after day, year after year,
and not as a sequence of separate steps, each of which requires a huge spending of resources. We also need to realize that space exploration expenditures
have their right place within a strict national priority system, and we need to
work to substantially reduce the cost of space operations, and we are currently deeply looking at the feasibility of reusable space shuttles as a way to
achieve this goal.
11
The shuttle had to be developed by NASA to support both civil and military
needs, so the requirements
12
of the Pentagon had to be met. The shuttle was to
launch the huge Key-Hole satellites, place them in orbit with a special mechanical
appendage and eventually repair them through the same robotic arm in case of
damage or malfunction. Thus, NASA had to design the shuttle with a payload bay
to comfortably accommodate a Key-Hole spacecraft, and with a robotic arm to
manipulate it in space. The cargo bay was designed with two deployable hatches
hinged on the fuselage in order to deploy or recover a large, long satellite like the
Key-Hole.
It may come as a surprise that the Hubble Space Telescope, one of NASA’s
greatest scientific achievements, was actually a civilian version
13
of the original
10
Day, Dwayne, John Logsdon, and Brian Latell. 1998. Eye in the Sky: The Story of the
CORONA KH Reconnaissance Satellite. Smithsonian Institution Press.
11
Nixon, Richard. Statement by the President, March 7, 1970. Reprinted in “Exploring the
Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the US Civil Space Program” Vol. 1 by Roger
Launius, NASA Publications, 1999.
12
Lodgson, John. 1999. Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the US
Civil Space Program Volume IV: Accessing Space. Washington, DC: NASA History Division
Office of Policy and Plans.
13
Morrison, Allison D. 2011. From Earth-Bound to Satellite: Telescopes, Skills and Networks.
BRILL Publisher, 244.
Rocket Man: From The Space Shuttle to the International Space Station 43
However, it was never launched, as the giant Key-Hole
10
spy satellites designed by
the Lockheed Corporation made the project redundant and too expensive. Both
these projects are largely unknown to public opinion.
When President Nixon commissioned NASA to develop the shuttle, he said:
It is now necessary to define new goals that make sense for the next decades.
We must build on the achievements of the past, but we must realize that
many problems on our planet require our attention and resources. In no way
we have to make our space program stagnate, but with the whole future and
the entire universe ahead of us, we don’t need to do everything at once. Our
bold approach to space exploration must continue but we also need balance...
we must realize that space activities will be part of our daily life, and we
must think about them as a continuous process, day after day, year after year,
and not as a sequence of separate steps, each of which requires a huge spending of resources. We also need to realize that space exploration expenditures
have their right place within a strict national priority system, and we need to
work to substantially reduce the cost of space operations, and we are currently deeply looking at the feasibility of reusable space shuttles as a way to
achieve this goal.
11
The shuttle had to be developed by NASA to support both civil and military
needs, so the requirements
12
of the Pentagon had to be met. The shuttle was to
launch the huge Key-Hole satellites, place them in orbit with a special mechanical
appendage and eventually repair them through the same robotic arm in case of
damage or malfunction. Thus, NASA had to design the shuttle with a payload bay
to comfortably accommodate a Key-Hole spacecraft, and with a robotic arm to
manipulate it in space. The cargo bay was designed with two deployable hatches
hinged on the fuselage in order to deploy or recover a large, long satellite like the
Key-Hole.
It may come as a surprise that the Hubble Space Telescope, one of NASA’s
greatest scientific achievements, was actually a civilian version
13
of the original
10
Day, Dwayne, John Logsdon, and Brian Latell. 1998. Eye in the Sky: The Story of the
CORONA KH Reconnaissance Satellite. Smithsonian Institution Press.
11
Nixon, Richard. Statement by the President, March 7, 1970. Reprinted in “Exploring the
Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the US Civil Space Program” Vol. 1 by Roger
Launius, NASA Publications, 1999.
12
Lodgson, John. 1999. Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the US
Civil Space Program Volume IV: Accessing Space. Washington, DC: NASA History Division
Office of Policy and Plans.
13
Morrison, Allison D. 2011. From Earth-Bound to Satellite: Telescopes, Skills and Networks.
BRILL Publisher, 244.
Rocket Man: From The Space Shuttle to the International Space Station 43