> a 3 letter agency or the pentagon wanted to use it for satellite maintenance/retrieval. Never happened
I think they did do satellite maintenance from the shuttle a few times, most notably on the Hubble telescope.
I think they did do satellite maintenance from the shuttle a few times, most notably on the Hubble telescope.
The Airforce also helped drive the payload (weight and dimension) requirements, but I feel that this is secondary to the cross-range requirement.