There&#x27;s a good discussion on the Soviet analysis of the US shuttle program in &quot;The Making of a Soviet Scientist&quot; by Roald Sagdeev. Sagdeev and Keldysh were against the shuttle since they could not find any justification, economic or otherwise, for the space shuttle.<p>Eventually the argument that won the day was that &quot;The Americans are smart and pragmatic, so there must be some use&quot; for the space shuttle.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Roald_Sagdeev" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Roald_Sagdeev</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Mstislav_Keldysh" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Mstislav_Keldysh</a>