Long-term, the loss of OV-099 in 1986 meant that the DoD would never again be willing to risk their payloads (or payload specialists) for hardware that could easily be launched without crew. Their solution was to resurrect the old workhorse of America's ICBM fleet, Titan, as Titan IV.

SLC-6 at Vandenberg AFB (now SFB) would have become the dedicated launch site for OV-103 Discovery as the USAF's "blue shuttle" (a reference to the Air Force's signature color--a new paint job would have been thermally impractical).

The loss of Challenger, though, forced a reconsideration.

Lockheed Martin's Lacrosse / Onyx was a classified "side-looking" radar imaging system. Placed in highly inclined orbits between 57 and 68 degrees, the constellation of 5 provided ground coverage of nearly the entire inhabited globe--and, vitally, all Soviet ICBM launch sites.

The first flight from Vandenberg would have been STS-62-A ("6" for 1986, "2" for the secondary VAFB launch site, A for the first planned launch of the year from Vandenberg, under the old mission numbering scheme). The payload, codenamed Teal Ruby, was a Lacrosse radar surveillance satellite.

A recurring theme in the Shuttle's early history is the program's entanglement with the USAF, and its utility to the late-Cold-War military-industrial complex. Starting today, we'll be taking a look at SLC-6, the planned Shuttle launch facility at Vandenberg AFB, and the DoD's Shuttle aspirations. 🧵