Space Shuttle's "Return to Flight"

[DisneyFan25863]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

From my understanding of what I've read, after the last accident it was decided that the shuttle fleet would be retired in 2010 regardless. The tech and design is too old.

Personally, I believe that if this is the case, the military must have some secret craft that is perhaps already in use. There are frequent launches undercover of darkness at some missile range in NM, and here in Phoenix at sunrise we are often able to see the exhaust from the launches, and a news story is broadcast that it was some sort of "test".

With the Chinese expansion into the space business, I find it hard to believe that we will be without the ability to get there when we need to.

I agree. The U2 and the Stealth Bomber were made under similar circumstances, and wern't revealed for years. I remember hearing about some top secret project (Avalon maybe?) that showed up on a military budget that was presented to congress, then deleted. It was something that had billions of dollars alloted to it. Perhaps, for once, the conspiricy theroy's are right?