robert arndt wrote:

Tupolev Tu-160
First Designated: "Aircraft 70" in direct response to B-1A, 1973
First Flight: Dec 19, 1981
Initial Order: 100 aircraft; 30 produced before line closed in 1992
Remaining Aircraft: Russia- 15, Ukraine- 19 original, 8 transferred to
Russia in 99/00, 3 ex-Ukrainian aircraft sold to US as satellite
launchers in 1999, rest scrapped

"Satellite launchers"? Really? Is someone actually doing this,
or even working on it? Just curious because it seems to me that
piggy-back spacecraft on aircraft is an underexploited concept.
I'm sure there are all sorts of good reasons why, but if someone
is actually doing this I'd love to see pointers to articles, etc.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.