Secret military space shuttle

Don't worry its coming.....



www.sea-launch.com...



Boeing and Energia in partnership... setting off any bells here?



Boeing defense contracts...

www.boeing.com...

Now then how much of a stretch to figure out that the US military has a few of these around as well?

Okay so we have a floating launch platform NOT hidden from the public that can launch Delta IV Heavies as well as Russian/US launch vehicles...


Delta IV Heavy Lifter - Space Freighters In Fact And In Fiction
www.technovelgy.com...

he Delta IV Heavy rocket is capable of the following payloads and orbital targets:

* 48,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit (LEO) like the International Space Station
* 28,000 pounds to geosynchronous transfer orbit (used by communcation satellites)
* 22,000 pounds to Trans Lunar Injection routes to the moon
* 17,000 pounds to Mars-bound trajectories

22,000 pounds to the Moon 17,000 pounds to Mars? thats a lot of Astronauts and supplies

Wait for it there is more....

Aquila Cargo Transport

Yes a search will lead you to "Chronicles of Riddick"

This is a report of a work in progress. So far as the author is presently aware, this topic has not been previously addressed. Proprietary work by NASA or others may, however, exist that address similar topics.

This work placed a total 129 tons initial base for both the in-crater and crater rim installations, as well as a 90 tons “marshalling yard” at the Earth-Moon L-1 libration point. For launch services, the results of an in-house Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle study were used. It is called Aquila. This vehicle can deliver over 50 tons to low Earth orbit from the Kennedy Space Center, using a combination of Space Shuttle and Delta IV-Heavy components.

A second stage of the Delta IV-Heavy vehicle was used to deliver 15 tons payloads from Earth orbit to docking at L-1. By so doing, no “new start” systems are needed beyond those of the L-1 station and the LRB itself, provided the Aquila and Crew Exploration Vehicle have been previously developed. At L-1, three of these once-used stages are fitted with landing gear and other elements needed to produce a highly capable Lunar Vehicle and it is refueled from propellants delivered from Earth to place the base and to provide a single visit of a six person crew[/b[ to aid the robotic operations necessary to produce a fully functional base.

A Mars mission departing from L-1 with mass of 686 tons can be placed on the trans-Mars trajectory expending lunar-origin propellants and just one of the Lunar Vehicles, requiring an additional 13 Aquila launches. This will permit dual Mars spacecraft to be used for each mission with a 28% mass margin over a single, similar mass vehicle departing from low Earth orbit.

Source

This is one of my answers to Where and How

Edited to Add...
LRB = Lunar Resource Base

yeah some interesting/fishy stuff going on right above and below our noses but this is something that has been almost 10 years later than it should of had. As for a space shuttle that is secret? nah too old...too easy to track...too wasteful...too unreliable...if the US has an orbiter it would be plane dropped or have some sort of not chemical based proplusion systems.

linklink

Anyone seen the prototype for this one? According to PM 2005 it was sposed to launch next year. It would look cool in matt black..

Originally posted by DuncanIdahoGholem

www.popularmechanics.com...

Good Grief!!! Back to parachutes and water landings? So much for advancement

[edit on 14-5-2007 by zorgon]

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
I wouldnt doubt the military could do this. NASA's annual budget was $15.4 billion last time I checked represented less than 1% of the entire federal budget . The best estimates of the US military (Black) budget is $40 billion a year.


[edit on 25-10-2005 by ShadowXIX]

He's right. $15.4 Billion is around 3% of the Military Budget in this country(over $500 billion requested for 2009), let alone the whole US budget.

www.defenselink.mil...

[edit on 7-2-2009 by hawkeye1717]

reply to post by Simon666

Simon, until two weeks ago, I would have said the same thing. Now, I know better.

Two Monday evenings back, I stepped outside in the clear, cold air for a cigarette. Looking high in the southern sky at Orion, trying to pick out the smaller, fainter stars, a low-flying triangle flew into my line of sight.

It was darker than the background sky, but it also seemed to "shimmer" toward the middle, enabling it to blend in with the lighter background of the sky. I would estimate it was flying between 200-400' in altitude, no lights, zero noise, never altering speed or direction, heading due west.

Estimated size, depending on altitude, would be greater than 25' and more likely 40' in width.

This bottom "shimmered" like we'd see the Klingon vessel, or even the alien in Predator.

It was going slow, just cruising, and had I not been looking at that particular spot at that moment, I'd have never seen it.

The outline was clear, but there seemed to be an active concealment on the bottom of the craft.

I live near Eglin AFB, and in fact in just a few miles further, it would have crossed the main runway at Hurlburt Field.

I think our guys have made a bit of progress.

No?

I will avoid the literal debate by posing an alternative perspective:

WHY WOULD WE NOT DO THIS?

Look at purchasing and behavior patterns for the DoD over the past 3 decades and ask yourself why on earth a military launch vehicle would not be in use aside from exotic technology potentially having replaced the traditional alternative launch vehicle.

Just wanted to share some of my photo research that ties into the OP.

Pegasus


X-20


Sea Launch II


Also - a military shuttle launch that I am personally familiar with:

STS-51C


Mission: Department of Defense
Space Shuttle: Discovery
Launch Pad: 39A
Launch Weight: 250,891 pounds
Launched: January 24, 1985 at 2:50:00 p.m. EST
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing: January 27, 1985 at 4:23:23 p.m. EST
Landing Weight: Classified
Runway: 15
Rollout Distance: 7,352 feet
Rollout Time: 50 seconds
Revolution: 49
Mission Duration: 3 days, 1 hour, 33 minutes, 23 seconds
Orbit Altitude: 220 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 28.5 degrees
Miles Traveled: 1.3 million

This is from the post-mission report prepared for contractors.

I think this thread (and a few others like it) are part of the very few "diamonds in the rough" I mention from time to time...although I don't call them out very often.

Yes, I believe there is a secret manned space program. I have first hand information on it from speaking with someone who is in it and verifying his information through another source. And no, nothing I can really get into. But none of the information I have is really that cool to be honest. I spoke with someone who has been trained for spaceflight through a program "affiliated" with NASA, but he didn't know if anyone like him has ever really went up. He seemed to indicate that is was more about being prepared for something, rather than a regular event. Overall, I got the impression that he though it was a waste of money.

I also know there are other things the American taxpayers have purchased that can achieve manned orbit at this time besides the space shuttle as well.

However, I do not know if there has ever been a secret manned mission as of yet. I know there has been many tests of certain vehicles, but I don't know if any have ever been manned. And I don't know why they would be.

For the life of me, I can't figure out the reason for having a secret manned space program. It can't be for any military type use, as anything that needs to be done from orbit in that regard can be done more cost effectively via remote operation from a ground based unit. Obviously it isn't for exploration, and I don't subscribe yet to any alien theory or the like....so why the heck would they need a secret manned space program at this time?