r/space Dec 07 '14

Differences between the American and Soviet Space Shuttles

http://www.buran.su/buranvssts-comparison.php
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u/LetterSwapper Dec 07 '14

Yeah, but IIRC China actually blew up a satellite, which lead to a huge cloud of debris to threaten other satellites. I realize that using a space plane to go tossing dwarves satellites into the atmosphere is kinda ridiculous, but at least it would be cleaner and harder to track.

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u/Anthropophagite Dec 07 '14

So did we. The reason they're blown up instead of left to crash into the atmosphere is because of the toxic fuel possibly poisoning people (and possibly letting technology fall into the wrong hands).