‘Real Genius’ was right after all

No S-foils? Lame.

According to an article in Aviation Week magazine, the US has had in operation since the 1990s a two-stage-to-orbit military spaceplane. Or in other words, a starfighter. Of course nothing has been confirmed by the government and it could all turn out to be a conspiracy theory, but Aviation Week is a reasonably well respected publication and the collection of eyewitness reports and circumstantial evidence is worth discussing, at least. Go to the story for details, but the basic gist is a mothership would carry the orbiter under its fuselage, accelerating to supersonic speeds at high altitude before dropping the spaceplane. The orbiter's engines would then fire and boost it into space, where it would conduct reconnaissance, satellite-insertion or weapons delivery, as needed.

IMDB tells me Real Genius was based on actual events at the California Institute of Technology. I wonder if they ever tried the popcorn trick with their laser.

Tags: space technology