QG in her (utterly justified) humanistic annihilation of space flight only missed out that the space shuttle was hamstrung in it's design by the desire for it to be an unstoppable (as in too unpredictable to counter) weapon delivery system. The desire for cross range capability knackered all hope of meatsack survivability. Energia/buran was on every human level worse because it cost just as much in a country/agglomeration/whateverthefuckitwas that could afford it even less