> Wasn't that why Vandenberg was fitted-out to launch shuttles?
I don't know about DoD operating their own shuttles with their own crews, but my understanding was that part of the pitch that got Shuttle approved was that they could do polar launches from Vandenberg to deploy Earth observation (read: spy) satellites. Or match the orbit of, observe, and even capture satellites belonging to other countries in polar orbits. It helped get DoD's backing for the program.
Being able to launch from Vandenberg as well as Cape Canaveral opens up more orbital options.
According to this [1] stackexchange answer, Discovery was built for use by the US air force, but seems to have been allocated to NASA after the loss of Challenger.
It also states that Vandenberg was never used for shuttle launches, which matches what I recall reading. I don't think the sts was ever put into a high-inclination orbit.
I don't know about DoD operating their own shuttles with their own crews, but my understanding was that part of the pitch that got Shuttle approved was that they could do polar launches from Vandenberg to deploy Earth observation (read: spy) satellites. Or match the orbit of, observe, and even capture satellites belonging to other countries in polar orbits. It helped get DoD's backing for the program.
Being able to launch from Vandenberg as well as Cape Canaveral opens up more orbital options.