In article , bthorn64
@suddenlink.net says...

On Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:51:07 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote:


Good. This is what those losers at NASA should have been doing in the
'70s instead of wasting huge amounts trying to "save" manned
spaceflight.

Careful, that's not too far removed from how Shuttle got started.

Thank the Powers That Be that the Air Force has finally
been unleashed again.

Yeah, right. Is this the same Air Force that screwed up Future Imaging
Architecture and National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite
System so badly they were both killed off by an outraged Congress in
the last decade? The same Air Force that is vastly behind schedule and
overbudget on its prized new F-35 fighter? The same Air Force that
went down the EELV path in the name of lowering costs, but screwed up
things so badly they now cost us more than their predecessors? The
same Air Force that seems inexplicably unable to fairly choose a
replacement tanker or Search and Rescue helicopter?

This is a cool idea, but the chance of it seeing the light of day from
our incompetent Air Force in the upcoming years of drastic budgets
cuts is about nil.

Apples and oranges. You're giving examples of programs which are
intended to become operational, but this project is clearly R&D along
the lines of X-37B. Too bad the budget for the X-37B is classified.

Jeff
--
" Ares 1 is a prime example of the fact that NASA just can't get it
up anymore... and when they can, it doesn't stay up long. "
- tinker