[sci.space] KH-12 Breakup

john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III) (03/14/91)

In article <1991Mar13.043442.3045@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
> [A sidelight on this is that the KH-12 that reportedly broke up after
> shuttle launch last March appears to be operational; apparently the
> "breakup" was jettisoning of covers and shields before maneuvering,
> not an accident.]

Sounds like a reasonable story.  And now for the unreasonable: does anyone
think that the pentagon might have intentionally included jettisonable parts
on the KH-12, parts that served no usefull purpose other than to fool observers
into thinking that the spacecraft broke up and was no longer functional?
Afterall, the Soviets reported the breakup with glee, only to now appear
to have egg on their face.  Maybe this was a pentagon scheme to test the
Soviet space tracking systems.

-john-

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