I've always though they should retrofit some old missile silos to house Titan IIs fitted with Gemini capsules.
For many years, there have been rumours that the Air Force flew their own Gemini missions out of Vandenburg from underground silos. Presumably they would have had to land using the Rogallo system, or else some sort of quiet sea pickup would have been arranged.
One of the more annoying aspects of the internet is that while you can find literally thousands of pages about the less plausible conspiracy theories (i.e., the idea that the government is in league with space aliens) it's almost impossible to find anything being written about several of what I'd consider the more likely conspiracies of the Space Age, such as the Air Force Geminis, or the Lost Cosmonauts. Before the internet came along, the situation was almost reversed - you had to work hard then to get information on the loonier stuff, generally by sending off for xeroxed pamphlets from the classified ads in SF magazines, whereas the more sober theories appeared in editorials.
The interesting and suspicious thing to me is that while the amount of data for the crazy theories has literally exploded, with new stuff popping up here and there like mushrooms, and each new 'discovery' more lurid than the last; the information presented for the idea that the Russians lost some of their Cosmonauts in orbit then never admitted it, or that the USAF flew a series of secret space missions, remains as it was in the beginning, which is what I'd expect for something real.
On the other hoof, why would the Russians still hide that after all these years, when they've opened up about some truly disastrous blunders that they made over the years. Monday, fur instance, was the 45th anniversary of the catastrophe at Baikonur when some retarded general wanted to stand too close to the test stand to show how brave he was, so everyone else felt they had to as well, and 168 of them ended up getting killed when the experimental motor blew up. If they'll admit that, then why would they continue to hide deaths on orbit?
The USAF hiding a program 40 years later I can sort of see, especially if the money was supposed to be spent for something else. If you're interested in Geminis as weapons platforms, look up the "Gemini Blue" proposals. Most of those wouldn't have been launchable from silos, though, since they needed strapons or Titan IIIs for the extra mass.
no subject
For many years, there have been rumours that the Air Force flew their own Gemini missions out of Vandenburg from underground silos. Presumably they would have had to land using the Rogallo system, or else some sort of quiet sea pickup would have been arranged.
One of the more annoying aspects of the internet is that while you can find literally thousands of pages about the less plausible conspiracy theories (i.e., the idea that the government is in league with space aliens) it's almost impossible to find anything being written about several of what I'd consider the more likely conspiracies of the Space Age, such as the Air Force Geminis, or the Lost Cosmonauts.
Before the internet came along, the situation was almost reversed - you had to work hard then to get information on the loonier stuff, generally by sending off for xeroxed pamphlets from the classified ads in SF magazines, whereas the more sober theories appeared in editorials.
The interesting and suspicious thing to me is that while the amount of data for the crazy theories has literally exploded, with new stuff popping up here and there like mushrooms, and each new 'discovery' more lurid than the last; the information presented for the idea that the Russians lost some of their Cosmonauts in orbit then never admitted it, or that the USAF flew a series of secret space missions, remains as it was in the beginning, which is what I'd expect for something real.
On the other hoof, why would the Russians still hide that after all these years, when they've opened up about some truly disastrous blunders that they made over the years. Monday, fur instance, was the 45th anniversary of the catastrophe at Baikonur when some retarded general wanted to stand too close to the test stand to show how brave he was, so everyone else felt they had to as well, and 168 of them ended up getting killed when the experimental motor blew up. If they'll admit that, then why would they continue to hide deaths on orbit?
The USAF hiding a program 40 years later I can sort of see, especially if the money was supposed to be spent for something else. If you're interested in Geminis as weapons platforms, look up the "Gemini Blue" proposals. Most of those wouldn't have been launchable from silos, though, since they needed strapons or Titan IIIs for the extra mass.
Someday I should go see the firehouse bulb
You should go see the firehouse bulb, yes :)