Originally Posted by
sandiego89
Perhaps some of the same reasons that expendables still have a place in transonic and space flight. Remember the Space Shuttle was originally envisioned as a space truck that could be rapidly reused and re-launched cheaply and easily, but as we saw it did not replace expendable boosters, was never cheap, and was replaced by Titan derivatives for heavy payloads. Only now are we seeing some truly reusable launch methods, but even these are only partially reusable, and they work....sometimes.....
IF an Aurora or XB-70 type aircraft was developed as a mother ship for a reusable orbiter, that would have been two very complex airframe systems with exotic materials, fuels, maintenance and security requirements. Not cheap or easy.
Crewed vehicles also have the highest safety requirements.
So the XB-70 retirement, on grounds of being too expensive, too complex and obsolete, was actually a cover story for top-secret Aurora. However the reason Aurora has never reached the public domain, despite being replaced by a system that regularly features in USAF press releases, is that it was retired, on grounds of being too expensive, too complex and obsolete. Have I got that right?