Blackstar (spacecraft)
Blackstar is the purported name of a secret United States orbital spaceplane system. The possible existence of the Blackstar program was claimed in March 2006 by an article in Aviation Week & Space Technology (Aviation Week, AWST) magazine; the magazine claimed that the program had been underway since at least the early 1990s, and that the impetus for Blackstar was to allow the United States government to retain orbital reconnaissance capabilities jeopardized following the 1986 Challenger disaster.