From Henry Spencer:
Scott M. Kozel wrote:
A space shuttle is an 'aircraft' for relatively brief portions of its
mission, and then only for ascent-to-orbit and descent-from-orbit.

Its actual mission is carried out in space, where "Rules of Air Warfare"
and rules for "military aircraft" do not apply to a spacecraft.

Moreover, even when it's an aircraft, it's not a combat aircraft. One can
reasonably argue that it's a chartered civilian cargo aircraft -- there is
no question that even on military shuttle flights, final control of the
vehicle remains with NASA -- and those do not require military markings
even when carrying military cargo.

It is a military crew conducting a military mission. Even NASA makes
that perfectly clear.

As far as final control remaining with NASA, I expect that you have an
awareness of the level of control that the military maintained over
their military missions. And even disregarding anything that happened
on the ground, I would point out that the final control of the vehicle
can be exercised with a simple push of the CSS button.

(Examples of a military crew exerting military command and control
over their vehicle were posted earlier today in another thread.)


~ CT