
Did the Soviets Actually Build a Better Space Shuttle? (2013) - ohjeez
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a9763/did-the-soviets-actually-build-a-better-space-shuttle-16176311/
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dalke
"The Kremlin leadership saw the space shuttle primarily as a carrier of space
weapons and discounted its advertised scientific and commercial applications
as an elaborate smokescreen"

Which, to be fair, somewhat reflects the involvement of the DoD and NRO in the
US shuttle design process. After all, the USAF built Vandenberg for a reason,
and all the SDI people wanted x-ray killsats, kinetic bombardment satellites,
etc.

~~~
sn41
There's a good discussion on the Soviet analysis of the US shuttle program in
"The Making of a Soviet Scientist" by Roald Sagdeev. Sagdeev and Keldysh were
against the shuttle since they could not find any justification, economic or
otherwise, for the space shuttle.

Eventually the argument that won the day was that "The Americans are smart and
pragmatic, so there must be some use" for the space shuttle.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Sagdeev](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Sagdeev)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mstislav_Keldysh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mstislav_Keldysh)

