So here's the reality of the situation: The NRO has a budget of about 33 billion dollars. 15 of that is black and difficult to discern. 18 of that is public and subject to the bread and circuses necessary to convince America that "space exploration" is worth the cost of maintaining a rocket fleet. You know this 18 billion as "NASA."

Sputnik provided Eisenhower with the impetus he needed to use spy satellites instead of U-2 flights (highly recommended if you can find it). The Mercury and Gemini program were, in many ways, cover for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory... and the absolutely stultifying number of Corona launches.

The only reason the Space Shuttle exists is for the KH-9. The NRO was adamantly opposed to the space shuttle - its erstwhile main customer - because they'd have to redesign all their satellites to sit sideways. However, Hans Mark performed a complete 180 turnaround while head of the NRO and said "if you're going to build it, it must be big enough to be useful" - the NRO's proposal for the shuttle was 40% larger than NASA's civilian wing.

People forget that the NRO built a military launch pad for the Shuttle out at Vandenberg. People forget that between '82 and '92, fully a quarter of the Shuttle's payloads were classified military missions. And people forget that when the Challenger exploded, it left the NRO without any heavy launch platform right in the middle of Reagan/Gorbachev SDI paranoia - thus the development of the Delta IV Heavy, the rocket the NRO had wanted since 1971.

And once they had their big rocket, they didn't need a shuttle any more. There's a reason NASA kept trying to kill the shuttle - one of their main customers and, frankly, their raison d'etre didn't need it any more. So the budget NASA is left with is the budget that can actually defend itself - unmanned science and things academia will help pay for.

The shuttle was never a good idea, and it was pushed well past its useful life in pursuit of civilian payloads that only exist as pork barrel (lookin' at you, ISS). I watched the Columbia launch live; I watched it come down live. I'm a big fan of manned spaceflight. But at the same time, I recognize that the shuttle was irrelevant the minute it rolled onto the hangar and that the Columbia and Challenger deaths were, in many ways, about keeping up appearances.