Yesterday, I mentioned the Chinese hypersonic missile test. This afternoon, I see that the Chinese are claiming it was just a spacecraft, not a missile.
I figure a hypersonic reentry vehicle is a hypersonic reentry vehicle, no matter what payload you decide to put on it.
You might recall that Project Mercury used Redstone and Atlas ballistic missiles for boosters. Gemini used the Titan III ICBM. And the Air Force has it’s own vehicle that can reach orbit, then reenter and land; the X-37B.
Missile? Spacecraft? If it lands, it’s a spacecraft. If it hits, it’s a missile. I touched upon that nebulous difference in my novel Net Assets, as one reason the dot-gov really wants to control launch capability (which I wish the idiots trying to build a “space port” near the nuke sub base would consider).
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