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Boeing Moving X-37B Operations To the Kennedy Space Center
schwit1 writes "A spy plane used by the U.S. Air Force is about to get a new home: a garage at Kennedy Space Center that once housed NASA orbiters during the space shuttle era. The move was announced Friday by Boeing, the Chicago-based company that built the X-37B orbital test vehicle and is in charge of repairing the spacecraft whenever it returns to Earth. Previously, Boeing had refurbished the 29-foot-long spacecraft at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but the company decided to relocate its fix-up shop in Florida, where the vehicle now launches."
since Boeing showed these 2 years ago, I'm sure the retrofit is ready by now. The Air Force will never give up their backdoor access to space. This picture here is about all I can find...but if they drew out plans like that then the Air Force probably has it built already.
Why can't we just demilitarize NASA. The military already has their own Space Command, so why do they have to fuck with NASA as well?
Why do dogs piss on trees? Or XBL kiddies teabag corpses in Halo?
Because winning just isn't as much fun if you don't mark your territory.
...presumably it is too expensive to do long term physical operations in the People's Republic of Kalifornia as well as favoring different orbital paths.
I wouldn't choose the state if I were siting a garment plant or a toxin smelter; but do you imagine that there is a particularly large cost delta for a corporation that can probably book just about anything in almost any state or several overseas offices if the tax accountant says to, running an operation involving a relatively small number of skilled specialists (presumably with fairly robust clearances, even if they are just screwdriver peons, given the secrecy surrounding the details of the project)?
It's sadly ironic that the US only use for NASA facilities and repurposed X-37B is for spying on people and weaponizing space. Some may say bloated NASA needed to be put out of its misery, but surely the government could contribute more to useful science and exploration privately, than more ways to fund military or NSA to control its citizens.
>> Why can't we just demilitarize NASA. The military already has their own Space Command
With the deprecation of Shuttle, it was all hands on deck to replace the capability spread among all budgets. The X-47C is the evolution of that effort, replacing all but the heavy lift capability, which is now done unmanned.
...to the second picture.
Computer simulation made easy -- LibGeoDecomp
I know how much was wrong with the shuttle program, but I still get depressed every time I hear it referred to in the past tense.
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
NASA has been a branch of the military from its inception. What do you think was the purpose of all those "scientific experiments" they conducted back in the '50s and '60s?
Yes, the environmental permitting makes using a rattle can on federal lands in California a state crime. Seriously. If you have an emissions permit, and you improperly use a spray can, you're liable for fines and criminal penalties. Fuck that.
my guess would be they are going for the lower latitudes.
launching from higher latitudes requires more fuel for the same orbit.
so either they are lifting a heavier load or going for a higher orbit.
to move just to save money would be totally out of character for the U.S. Gov.
I am not sure if that is true.
IIRC, most of the spy satellites uses a polar orbit, where latitude makes less of a difference.
Billing the Air Force for use of available facilities transfers some of the military space budget back to civilian agencies. Remember, the military space budget is larger than NASA's so NASA could probably use the money.
A garage is what you take out each night.
ie. Launch Assembly Building for the Apollo's?
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
They can and do ignore state laws at will.
Since the AF has not said what the X -37 is doing, there is no way to establish that the vehicle is spying or performing other missions.