Psst. Want a space telescope?

摘要

America's civilian space programme is built atop its military one. Its rockets trace their ancestry, via ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads into the Soviet Union, to the German V2s that bombarded London and Antwerp during the second world war. And the Space Shuttle, which made its final flight last year, was used to launch satellites for the air force as well as carrying out its better-publicised scientific missions.