re: #160 RadicalModerate

That’s not entirely accurate.
Even though there were space shuttle flights with military missions/cargo (two of the most well known being STS-51-C, and STS-36), there were only a total of eleven such flights - and the last military launch occurred in December, 1992 - while the shuttle continued launching missions for another nineteen years.

The US military as a rule uses Titan III class launch vehicles for the bulk of their satellites.

Well, no space-based SDI system was ever actually put into service. Servicing and returning such satellites was envisioned by the Reagan administration as a major use of STS.