On Mon, 09 May 2005 14:12:05 -0500, Pat Flannery wrote:

Given the present administration's desire for military space control,
one can wonder if the great cross range requirement had a similar origin
to that of the Shuttle's, with its delta wings- something the military
wants for a military derivative of the CEV.

Sorry, PAT, no conspiracy here. It was quite well known that the
military wanted the crossrange for the "once-around" recon sat polar
orbit launches from Vandenberg. This gave them a reason to buy into
the shuttle, which got the shuttle needed funding.

This also drove the large capacity of the payload bay.

Pat

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"